Sew...

[Don Y]

So, what is it with media personalities (TV/radio) nowadays? Ditto with folks (often journalists!) being interviewed by same! It seems like they INVARIABLY start their replies to any inquiries with "so, ..."

So, this seems pretty unprofessional; as if they'd never had any formal writing/speaking training. You hear it LESS often when Joe-on-the-street is interviewed... more when someone who SHOULD know how to construct a better reply is questioned.

So, is that, perhaps, how they are being taught, nowadays? Or, like all pilots trying to emulate Yeager's casual form of "incredible understatement", just a bad habit they've picked up from colleague?

So, listen more carefully and see how often you hear it "on the street" vs. "from professional journalists"...

[Micky]

You're right. They do this all the time now.

I havfen't noticed it here, or in print anywhere, but I've sure noticed it on the radio, including by some guy with an accent, who I think lived in a non-English-speaking country!

This got commented on in an english usage ng about a year ago, but before I'd noticed it.

At first. when it was described but I hadn't heard it, I thought it had something to do with email and text interchanges, and people felt like they were continuing a thought from a previous email or text, but that doesn't account for most of it.

I think I've even heard it on C-Span when a couple people have testified before congressional committees.

[Paul Drahn]

I noticed it a few years ago and it drives me crazy. Most often heard on PBS both TV and Radio. Many time I turn it off as soon as it is said.

I found this blog relating to this problem, and see many others feel the same way.

I follow the Arduino forum and see many posts by juveniles seeking help and advice on projects. They write just like they talk: they always start their description of their project with "so".

Then a month ago my youngest Grandson, age 20, was here for a visit and he started every conversation with "so". I had to verbally berate him over his grammar problem. It help a bit, but was still doing it on occasion.

My wife says I am too critical, but I can't help it.

Paul

[Don Y]

I've not tracked where (specifically) I've heard it. But, I can be completely oblivious to is being said/reported... UNTIL I hear that start a sentence! Then, it grates on my brain.

Do you have a pointer to it? Did you, perhaps, intend to include that, here?

I was taught that "so" was the second half of a proposition (not preposition). I.e., lay out some facts or conditions, *SO* present a query based on those or a conclusion drawn from them. *So*, it acts as a conjunctive, of sorts... coming in the *middle* of a discussion, not introducing one!

It would be like beginning a discussion: "Therefore, ..." or "Thus, ..." or "As such, ..." -- which would sound ludicrous!

"So, the kid thinks 4+4 is 5... what's the big deal??" "So, the kid forgot to say 'Thank You'... you *know* he's grateful!" "So, ..."

I've given up on the preposition-ended sentences; folks just aren't that careful with their speech. OTOH, I expect a heckuvalot more in *print*! (some of the "big" news sites seem to have laid off all of their editors!)

[Tekkie®]

[This followup was posted to alt.home.repair and a copy was sent to the cited author.]

Don Y posted for all of us...

So. dude, everything is AMAZING! My job is AMAZING, my skills are AMAZING!

So, what is is your amazing problem? Do you have micro-aggression from the blowback? So, the optics don't look good on your amazing analysis. So, when are going to join those amazing marches for gun control, BLM, celebrity opinions, etc. So, who is your candidate right, wrong, left, right? So, what's wrong with ISIS?

[Micky]

Actually, it's not. It's actually rather mundane. It happens almost every day, actually.

The reason is because we're young. Not that we're young but because we are actually young, actually.

[gfretwell]