By ANAND GIRIDHARADAS
So, this is about the word “so.”
If you speak English for work or pleasure, there is a fair chance that you’ve done it, too.
“So” may be the new “well,” new “um,” new “oh” and new “like.” No longer content to lurk in the middle of sentences, it has jumped to the beginning, where it can portend many things: transition, certitude, logic, attentiveness, a major insight.
Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, late last year: “So, it’s not only because we believe that universal values support human rights being recognized and respected, but we think that it’s in the best interest for economic growth and political stability. So we believe that.”
A dispatch on National Public Radio last month, in which a quarter of sentences began with “so”: “So it’s, I think, the fifth largest in the nation. So, but now that’s the population in general. So there are sort of two, there are two things that are circumstantial.”
A quotation in a report last month from Channel NewsAsia, based in Singapore: “So, what we’re doing is — elephants have had these migratory routes, basically like islands connecting parks between each other; they’ve got nowhere to move and people have encroached on them.
“So, we negotiate with the people to move from the land. So, what we do, we buy the land, build them houses off the corridors and give them exactly the same amount of arable land back.”
A recent news briefing by Vitaly Churkin, the Russian ambassador to the United Nations, in which 5 of 21 sentences began with “so”: “So, all those issues, we hope, will be addressed in the report of the secretary general.”
For most of its life, “so” has principally been a conjunction, an intensifier and an adverb.
What is new is its status as the favored introduction to thoughts, its encroachment on the territory of “well,” “oh,” “um” and their ilk.
So, it is widely believed that the recent ascendancy of “so” began in Silicon Valley. The journalist Michael Lewis picked it up when researching his 1999 book “The New New Thing”: “When a computer programmer answers a question,” he wrote, “he often begins with the word ‘so.”’ Microsoft employees have long argued that the “so” boom began with them.
In the software world, it was a tic that made sense. In immigrant-filled technology firms, it democratized talk by replacing a world of possible transitions with a catchall.
And “so” suggested a kind of thinking that appealed to problem-solving types: conversation as a logical, unidirectional process, proceeding much in the way of software code — if this, then that.
This logical tinge to “so” has followed it out of software. Starting a sentence with “so” uses the whiff of logic to relay authority. Where “well” vacillates, “so” declaims.
To answer a question starting with “well” suggests you are still considering it, don’t know fully but are getting there. To answer with “so” better suits the age, perhaps: A Google-glued generation can look it up where their parents would have said “I don’t know,” Facebook and Twitter encourage ordinary people and not just politicians to stay on message, and we gravitate toward declamatory blogs and away from down-the-middle reporting.
“So” also echoes the influence of a science- and data-driven culture. It would have been unimaginable a few decades ago that literature scholars would use neurological correlation analysis to evaluate texts, or that ordinary people would quantify daily activities like eating, sex and sleeping, or that software would calculate what songs we will like.
But in algorithmic times, “so” conveys an algorithmic certitude. It suggests that there is a right answer, which the evidence dictates and which should not be contradicted. Among its synonyms, indeed, are “consequently,” “thus” and “therefore.”
And yet Galina Bolden, a linguistics scholar who has written academic papers on the use of “so,” believes that “so” is also about a culture of empathy gaining steam in a globalized world.
To begin a sentence with “oh,” she said in an e-mail, is to focus on what you have just remembered and your own concerns. To begin with “so,” she said, drawing on her study of a database of recorded ordinary conversations, is to signal that one’s coming words are chosen for relevance to the listener.
The ascendancy of “so,” Dr. Bolden said, “suggests that we are concerned with displaying interest for others and downplaying our interest in our own affairs,” she said.
“So” seems also to reflect our fraught relationship with time. “Well” and “um” are open-ended; “so” is impatient. It leans forward, seeks a consequence, sums things up. It is a word befitting a culture in which things worth doing must bear fruit now, where it is more fulfilling to day-trade grain futures than to raise grain.
Today we live in fragments. You may be reading this column while toggling among your cellphone, iPad and laptop while eating lunch and proofreading a report. In such a world, “so” may serve to defragment, with its promise that what is coming next follows what just came, said Michael Erard, the author of “Um…: Slips, Stumbles, and Verbal Blunders, and What They Mean.”
The rise of “so,” he said in an e-mail, is “another symptom that our communication and conversational lives are chopped up and discontinuous in actual fact, but that we try in several ways to sew them together — or ‘so’ them together, as it were — in order to create a continuous experience.”
Perhaps we all live now in fear that a conversation could snap at any moment, interrupted by so many rival offerings. With “so,” we beg to be heard. This, we insist, is what you’ve been waiting to hear; this is the “so” moment.
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Pingback by Weekend Reading — May 28, 2010 @ 8:04 pm
So, at the risk of seeming grammatically pedantic, so be it.
p.s. before I forget, I liked the article.
jiten
Comment by jiten patel — May 30, 2010 @ 12:25 pm
What Baloney! Silicon Valley had nothing to do with the rise of SO
The use of “So” as an opener to storytelling and spoken word performance has been used for over 40 years.
There were spoken word performers using it as a technique to hatch you right into the story back when Microsoft didn’t have any programmers.
Comment by Sean Shea — June 17, 2010 @ 1:56 pm
Hwæt. I know why I started doing it, and it has nothing to do with my neighbors to the south:
http://www.amazon.com/Beowulf-New-Verse-Translation-Bilingual/dp/0393320979
Comment by Gawain Lavers — June 17, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
In non-fiction or professional communications, it seems to me that it’s used to imply a conclusion that may or may not be supported by what’s come before it–sort of a sly way to sneak a “therefore” or a “thus” into a place that it doesn’t belong.
In fiction, I use “so” for characterization and voice.
“So I’m driving down the 101, headed South, and I see this bowling ball bouncing down the highway–yeah, bouncing…”
“So there was this chick, right? And she’s dancin’ like a dervish…”
It’s never felt technical to me. More folksy and raconteurish.
Then again, I tend to use it only once in any given bit of writing, because otherwise it seems like a tic and doesn’t read well…
Comment by Ian Wood — June 17, 2010 @ 1:58 pm
So, that’s all just so…so-so….even if I do say so
myself.
So sorry,
Stan G
Comment by Stan Green — June 17, 2010 @ 2:00 pm
[...] There’s a fairly old blog post-cum-New York Times article by Anand Giridharadas on the supposed boom of the word [...]
Pingback by So, why do people think that ‘so’ is new? « Chris Stokel-Walker — June 17, 2010 @ 2:16 pm
Seamus Heaney’s recent translation of the Anglo-Saxon epic Beowulf begins with the single word ‘So.’. He’s on record discussing why he did – more discussion here: http://www.editoreric.com/greatlit/translations/Beowulf.html
Comment by Jonathan Finn — June 17, 2010 @ 2:16 pm
Anand, this is an interesting post which I found through Boing Boing, but I really disagree. Have detailed why in a blogpost of my own at http://stokelwalker.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/so-why-do-people-think-that-so-is-new/ and would love to hear your reponse.
Comment by Chris Stokel-Walker — June 17, 2010 @ 2:19 pm
In Japan in the early 80′s, two common bits of verbal connective tissue were “Ano…” as a more gracious equivalent of the English “Um…”, and “So, so, so…” as an informal version of “Ah so desu” and used for an all-purpose I’m-thinking-about-it reply. So?
Comment by Gaijin-no-Nerdboy — June 17, 2010 @ 2:44 pm
So, I think you’re overstating your claim. What makes “so” different than “um”, “like”, or other verbal ticks? Why haven’t you quoted any of the exhaustive research on those? Also, why not Vonnegut?
Comment by Paul — June 17, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
Have you got more news like that ?
Comment by motercalo — June 17, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
Beginning sentences with “so” may be a rising trend but it’s been around for a long time. The cliche greeting, “So, how are you?” comes to mind as something I’ve heard for many years, well before Microsoft had enough employees to make an impact on the language.
Comment by kmoser — June 17, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
So what you’re saying is…
I’m sorry, I couldn’t resist
Fascinating discussion though. It’s amazing how our usage of language is constantly in flux, even though we’ve been speaking “English” for centuries.
Comment by Dan Gayle — June 17, 2010 @ 3:21 pm
“in terms of” is a another one.
Comment by ds — June 17, 2010 @ 3:35 pm
A quick corpus search shows slight but not dramatic growth in English sentence initial “So” from about 305 occurrences per million words from 1990 to 1994 up to 468 occurrences per million words from 2005 to 2009. Surprisingly usage of sentence initial “So” occurs most frequently in spoken language and least frequently in academic and newspaper genres. Over the same time period sentence initial “well” is much less frequent occurring on average 62 occurrences per million words. There is little evidence that “so” has replaced “well” over this period of transformation into an algorithmic culture. It has been a popular discourse particle since before the 90s.
Comment by David Clausen — June 17, 2010 @ 4:01 pm
I would argue that pre-teen southern Californian girls, rather than the Silicon Valley population, were ahead of the “so” movement before Silicon Valley got to it. Strangely enough, these girls are often forerunners in changes to the English language.
Comment by Jared — June 17, 2010 @ 4:25 pm
Minnesotans have been using the “So…. then…” construction for decades. It’s quite common here.
There’s even a chapter on it in the “How to Talk Minnesotan” book, published in 1987. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/How_to_talk_minnesotan
Comment by Kari — June 17, 2010 @ 4:55 pm
Seamus Heaney begins his translation of Beowulf with “So.”
Comment by James — June 17, 2010 @ 5:23 pm
It may interest you to note that Seamus Heaney in his translation of Beowulf begins:
So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by
and the kings who ruled them had courage and greatness.
Hwaet, the anglo-saxon word that begins the poem, is usually translated ‘what!, listen!’ but Heaney preferred something more direct…
Comment by Bill Thompson — June 17, 2010 @ 5:31 pm
Read the beginning of Shamus Heaney’s translation of Beowulf for an interesting take: he chooses to begin that ancient saga with “So” as a bardic marker of “The story is starting now,” replacing the old English “hwaet.” The intro to the book has a fascinating run-down on how he came to make that choice.
Comment by Cameron Goble — June 17, 2010 @ 5:35 pm
All of my auto-bio comic book stories begin with the word “So”.
Hence my comic book, So Buttons.
http://www.sobuttons.com
Enjoy!
Jonathan
Comment by Jonathan Baylis — June 17, 2010 @ 7:48 pm
Interesting to see that people are studying this trend. It has been annoying me for some time because it tends to lead to really awkward or pleonastic sentences. I particularly hate constructions like “So what we’re doing is, we’re doing X” as opposed to “We’re doing X.”
Comment by Sanagi — June 17, 2010 @ 7:57 pm
Microsoft programmer Mike Blaszczak was using ‘so’ as a sentence starter extensively and delightfully at least as early as 1996. You can probably find some written examples in his books on MFC.
Comment by Ajs — June 17, 2010 @ 8:26 pm
I started noticing this a few years ago on the CBC science radio program “Quirks and Quarks” when they interview scientists. If you listen to any recent podcast of this show, you’ll hear many of the scientists using “so” to continue their explanation after the interviewer asks them another question. I haven’t noticed this trend in any non-science interview shows. It’s good to know I’m not just imagining things.
Comment by Scott — June 17, 2010 @ 10:53 pm
Most people who post about Seamus Heaney don’t bother to read comments before posting.
No, I won’t be starting my own comment with “so,” but thanks for asking.
Comment by Alex — June 17, 2010 @ 11:42 pm
Interesting article. I have been interested in the development of this word, and reviewed its many uses (including the one that is the subject of this article) a while back:
http://www.underobservation.org/2008/05/so.html
I agree that the use of “so” at the beginning of a sentence has become more widespread in the intervening years. In 2008, it seemed to be most frequent within the technology community, but as you indicate it is now in mainstream (or nearly mainstream) use.
Comment by Will — June 17, 2010 @ 11:55 pm
This is even more ridiculous than those SEINFELD retrospectives that claim the show invented “yadda yadda.”
Comment by Jesse Walker — June 18, 2010 @ 12:37 am
[...] a comment Go to comments I use a lot of “So” in the beginning of sentences. Now there is some explanation about why that word jumped from the middle positions up to the [...]
Pingback by So what « And now, bring me that horizon… [EN] — June 18, 2010 @ 1:29 am
So, I guess you never read a play by Shakespeare, huh? The dialogue in all of his play are peppered with the use of ‘so’ at the beginning of sentences. Where have you been for the last 400 years?
Comment by Brian Raney — June 18, 2010 @ 2:44 am
[...] So while I was asleep over here in the UK the last blog post got picked up on Boing Boing and Anand Giridharadas’ site and gained me more views than all the previous posts put together. Naturally, I’m going [...]
Pingback by Following up the ‘so’ argument « Chris Stokel-Walker — June 18, 2010 @ 4:45 am
This got me thinking about even older references overnight and I’ve taken a stab at trying to get an earlier starting date at my blog. Here’s the link to the latest post: http://stokelwalker.wordpress.com/2010/06/18/following-up-the-so-argument/
Comment by Chris Stokel-Walker — June 18, 2010 @ 4:49 am
A quick corpus search shows slight but not dramatic growth in English sentence initial “So” from about 305 occurrences per million words from 1990 to 1994 up to 468 occurrences per million words from 2005 to 2009. Surprisingly usage of sentence initial “So” occurs most frequently in spoken language and least frequently in academic and newspaper genres. Over the same time period sentence initial “well” is much less frequent occurring on average 62 occurrences per million words. There is little evidence that “so” has replaced “well” over this period of transformation into an algorithmic culture. It has been a popular discourse particle since before the 90s.
+1
Comment by Alicante Car in Rental — June 18, 2010 @ 8:20 am
The use of “so” in this context *is* a new phenomenon, it has nothing to do with a “fraught relationship with time”, or 40 years of storytelling, etc.
Its roots are in the late 1970s est training of Werner Erhard. It was a prominent vocal habit of his. He interacted with thousands of people…and influenced early Apple employees who adopted Erhard’s approach in their public presentations. It spread from there.
Comment by Nortin Futilities — June 18, 2010 @ 8:32 am
Maybe you’re the guy to investigate another sentence opener, which I believe is both newer and weirder: “I mean…” Why are they explaining what they meant by what they haven’t yet said?
Comment by joliman — June 18, 2010 @ 8:39 am
[...] things. I’m grateful for my 4 month academic hiatus. (Speaking of the word ‘So’, here is a great theory by Anand Giridharadas about why the word ‘so’ has become a popular sentence opener in [...]
Pingback by Reappear | Rebecca Cottrell — June 18, 2010 @ 10:10 am
“Donc” is often used in French as a sentence opener in the same way that “so” is in English. Of course, “donc” when translated into English is “so” or “therefore”… While for some people using “donc” develops into an irritating verbal tick that precedes every sentence, a common phrase, used by many is “Donc, on y va!”…
Comment by Bob Wyman — June 18, 2010 @ 10:55 am
People should really crack open the OED and do some research before they start making ridiculous attributions like that.
Conjunctions float around in English all the time – if they didn’t, grammarians and teachers wouldn’t have spent the past 500 years telling us not to start a sentence with one. And that’s just due to the rise of prescriptive grammar (which led us to notice the fact that we do it), not a new linguistic phenomenon.
It’s true that verbal trends come and go, but this one isn’t new, special, surprising, or indicative of a confused, postmodern milieu in which we desperately seek out causality and coherence. It just is, and reading that much into it is silly.
Comment by Luke — June 18, 2010 @ 12:40 pm
THANK YOU FOR THIS ARTICLE.
I thought I was going crazy; everyone suddenly started answering questions with “So…”, and I had no idea where it came from, but even worse, I couldn’t even get anyone to agree that it was happening. I felt like Eddie Albert on Green Acres.
To me, it sounds like the person is saying: “. I was just about to tell you this, but I had to wait through your lame and redundant question. Are you done asking? Have your lips stopped flapping? Okay, then; I’ll continue. So…”
It irritated the hell out of me… until I noticed that not only was I doing it too, but I couldn’t stop. It’s one surprisingly strong meme.
\
Comment by Eric Daniels — June 18, 2010 @ 7:48 pm
Let me back up Scott, #25. I’ve been listening to science podcasts for three or four years — Scientific American, Nature, Discovery, etc. — and was struck by the peculiar phenomenon of scientists, in interviews, beginning their replies, again and again, with an amiable (and unnecessary) “So” — as if they were in the middle of a logical explanation, when in fact they usually were not. It was such an odd and startling new usage that for years I’ve thought, “I should really record these examples and try to write something about the trend.” I’m glad someone has.
Comment by Simon — June 19, 2010 @ 12:34 pm
It has been a frequent question starter amongst journalists for a long time. Regional news from Meridian in the 90′s had an almost religious insistence on starting any interview with, “so”.
Comment by Andrew — June 20, 2010 @ 6:55 am
As a programmer, it seems like I spend half my answer-writing time editing out as many instances of “so” as I can — it’s nice to know it’s an occupational hazard. While “so” is a perfect replacement for “thus” at work, I can’t bring myself to use “so” for social writing — it sounds a bit too much like I’m lecturing my friends. Turns out, I found a good replacement phrase.
Comment by sintaur — June 20, 2010 @ 1:39 pm
I’m so relieved to see that others have also noticed the rise of using “so” to begin an answer when it’s not grammatically required (nor does it make sense to use it). I noted this among friends, but noone else seem to pick it up (or be that concerned about it).
As others have noted, I find it somewhat irritating because it’s often tacked on to the beginning of a sentence without meaning or context — like a verbal tick (e.g. “like” or “um”). It seems especially odd to my ears because it implies continuity of thought that does not exist — as if they are continuing a line of thought that I’m just now hearing.
Comment by Stephen Williams — June 21, 2010 @ 12:48 pm
I will follow this ongoing discussion about So vs. well et al!
Comment by Roberr Gagnon — July 3, 2010 @ 9:05 pm
My goodness, I thought I was the only person mentally cringing every time I heard someone reply to, or answer a question, with “So…”.
Comment by Allen Mar — July 11, 2010 @ 6:24 pm
I have my own verbal tic involving “so” that I’m trying to curb: I say it at the END of something and then trail off, so….
It’s “so” annoying, I’m sure.
I’m not sure why I do it, exactly. It feels at times as if I’m not comfortable simply finishing off a simple declarative sentence. In those cases it’s more of a door-opener that would allow someone else to pick up my thought and run with it–a verbal bridge I hope they’ll choose to cross?
I also have some gender speculations about this usage, since it’s not something I hear men doing. I’m a confident communicator so I don’t know why I’d subliminally want to soften a statement unless it’s to invite others to engage more.
Fascinating discussion that takes me back to my undergrad studies in linguistics. I’ll be listening for this, particularly since I work in higher ed so I can see if our faculty overuse it.
@BarbChamberlain
Comment by Barb Chamberlain — July 15, 2010 @ 2:46 pm
As a regular listener to NPR, I became so interested in why everyone being interviewed was beginning their comments with the word ‘so’ that I came on-line to look it up. And here I am! I find this new trend to be a bit annoying. It’s not as bad as using ‘you know’ or ‘he/she goes’ in every sentence, but I’d still prefer it go away.
Comment by Kate — August 4, 2010 @ 9:55 am
I have been noticing this in the speech of academics during NPR interviews, so I did a Google search to see whether anyone had written about it yet and found your article. I did a bachelor’s in linguistics and suspect that linguists have an eye on this one. While beginning sentences with ‘so’ is not new, this particular manifestation of it is more specific and recent. I first heard it in 2002 when a friend of mine, who was doing a Ph.D. in entomology, consistently answered my questions about his discipline beginning with the word ‘so.’ I thought it was his idiolect, but since then I have heard it more and more. As you state, there seems to be a signal of authority behind it, of expertise and academic status. I enjoyed your various ways of pinning the semantics down.
Comment by Tim Elston — August 17, 2010 @ 12:22 am
I’m with Kate – was listening to NPR and literally shouting at an interviewee this a.m. “STOP SAYING ‘SO’!” I mean, she was going to town with this word. I didn’t actually count, but in a 3-minute interview, she must have said it 50 times, if not more. SO … after months of letting this feeling build, it reached a fever pitch today, and I finally turned to Google. Found this article quickly, and was mightily relieved to learn that others are as fed up with this trend as I am. Thanks for summing it up so well. Good reading.
Comment by Gail — August 31, 2010 @ 6:45 am
There is a difference between starting a monologue with “so” and beginning an answer with it. I agree with others that this implies the continuation of a nonexistent thought.
It is distracting every time I hear it, and the worst part is I know it’s only a matter of time before I’m using it the same way!
How do I know?
So, I googled it and found an article confirming my suspicion.
Comment by Frank — December 21, 2010 @ 2:56 pm
Anand, thanks for this worthwhile discussion.
The short piece linked in comment 27 discriminates interestingly between various uses of “so”. But neither that article nor yours nor any of the comments on it distinguishes between “So” (the conjunct) and “So,” (the adverb). They’re entirely different purposes.
As a conjunct (i.e. without a comma!), “So” may or may not be truthfully suggesting a logical connection with what has preceded it.
As an adverb (i.e. with a comma — but sometimes, inaccurately, represented in writing without the comma), it seems to act only as either a pause (as “Well,” does) or a vanity.
A third, entirely different use of “So” has been consistently overlooked in the comments here on Heaney’s Beowulf translation.
The translation does not begin with “So the Spear-Danes in days gone by”; neither does it begin with “So, the Spear-Danes in days gone by”.
It begins: “So. The Spear-Danes in days gone by…”
Here, “So” is used entirely properly as a particle, whose entire purpose is, as suggested on , to halt the direction of previous discussion and call attention to the speaker’s new purpose.
Comment by John Harvey — January 9, 2011 @ 5:15 pm
My apologies: the URL after “suggested on” disappeared upon posting.
Comment by John Harvey — January 9, 2011 @ 5:17 pm
“There is a difference between starting a monologue with “so” and beginning an answer with it. I agree with others that this implies the continuation of a nonexistent thought.”
This is the whole point that many are missing in this dicussion. No one is complaining when someone asks, “So, were are we going to lunch?”
What causes me (and, others, it appears) to wince is a reply of, “So, I think we’ll go to Bob’s Cafe”.
It’s usually dropped in at the beginning of a technical or, for lack of a word, intellectual reply.
Whether or not it’s intended, it * does * carry an air of superiority and a command of ‘Hey, look at me!’.
Frankly, I’m pretty oblivious to it * except * when it prefaces the answer to a question. It serves absolutely no purpose.
Yes, many other words serve little to no purpose in our prose and speech, but few others carry a lot of extra baggage. The rest are usually innocuous. “So” prefacing an answer is not.
Comment by zeitgeist — January 12, 2011 @ 3:21 pm
I’m convinced this is the new smarty-pants reply in a public question answer scenario. “So, by answering in this way it is clear I am highly intelligent and will remember to always answer beginning with the word so in order to impress everyone in the room”…
This is perhaps the most pretentious use of such a tiny word in recent history. I remember Meg Whitman using it in her campaign dialogue with reporters when running for governor of California. People have nailed this as a pseudo techy/Silicon Valley phenomenon. It is right up there with the exhausting overuse of phrases such as “boots-on-the-ground”. Since when did soldiers become boots? Is it easier to lose a pair of boots than an entire human being?
I hope people catch on to the emptiness of expecting to appear intelligent with this new grating habit.
Comment by Socrates — February 10, 2011 @ 9:23 pm
I noticed this first last semester at IIIT. Pretty soon, I too started to “So”!
Starting sentences with “So” probably also gives the sense (illusion?) of a connected conversation, even when it isn’t.
Comment by giri Rao — March 1, 2011 @ 3:15 pm
I’ve been growing increasingly angry at the number of dating site profiles that begin “So…” It reads so ugly.
I assumed that if I googled it, I would discover that the usage originated with Bridget Jones’ Diary (which seems to be required reading for women on those sites, at least I’m the UK. That was offputting enough. Now I discover they may all be techie geeks instead. Damn. Looks like I’ll be single for a while longer.
Comment by Mike — March 11, 2011 @ 2:54 pm
I’m with Socrates on this. I first noticed this when the CEO of my company started doing it last year in our quarterly meetings. It was evident he was forcing himself to start every answer with “so”. After that I started seeing it everywhere. Anytime someone was being interviewed on CNN, FoxNews, MSNBC, etc., EVERY answer began with a forced “so,”. It got me wondering if there was an article written in a business mag about how to sound intelligent whether you are or not.
When I hear it I don’t get the impression the speaker is intelligent, rather they project themselves as pretentious and pompous. Honestly it’s more irritating than anything else.
Comment by sweet greggo — March 12, 2011 @ 9:35 am
Its utterly wrong and amazingly unintelligent. Its purely a “copy-cat” mentality out there….. thats why you hear so many people making this huge grammatical error.
Comment by Mike — May 12, 2011 @ 1:46 pm
I’ve only recently noticed people using the word on the business news videos. All of you saying that this is not something new are mistaken. They are almost always people in marketing or CEO’s. I agree that some business magazine suggested that people use “so” when presenting a product or idea. I think it sounds stupid – no doubt cliche.
Comment by Bob — June 1, 2011 @ 10:47 am
Hi I just read your recent article on “Men”. It hit a deep chord and moved me to do two things: write a poem “On Men” and send a facebook message to Call to Men for a need to recognize that”the old boy’s network is crumbling” requiring lifting our heard out of the sand. Your comments and e mail so I can dend you the poem. Mel Allerhand
Comment by Mel Allerhand — June 20, 2011 @ 1:17 am
Thank you for this in-depth article on a subject I was curious about. I enjoy listening to software engineering talks and podcasts, and was wondering why this specific culture seems so taken with “so”.
Comment by Will — August 3, 2011 @ 4:52 pm
So, I found this website by googling the question “why is everyone using the word “so” to begin a sentence?”. So, I found this information to be so informative. However, it has been my observation the use of “so” is most commonly used by individuals with MBA’s. I watch CNBC and Bloomberg TOO many hours per week and the number of guests using “so” to preface a response has seemed to skyrocket in the past few months.
Comment by Clay — August 25, 2011 @ 3:47 pm
Almost “like ‘like’”, “so” possesses tremendous capacity to be abused, but that’s no reason for forsaking altogether such a handy word. “So” at the beginning of a sentence anchors a statement in time—as in the however archaic, “So, it was” or, “So be it.”
“So” also helps to eliminate the stuffiness of too many “thus” ~es and “therefore” ~s. Being two characters shorter even than “thus”, “so” has the capacity to eliminate an entire line, which might otherwise carry over even to become a widow on the next page.
“So, begins the process of…; and so, each reader is also….”
Comment by Dan O'Hanlon — September 3, 2011 @ 6:04 pm
What about using the word “listen” at the beginning of a sentence?
Comment by Doug — September 4, 2011 @ 3:22 pm
The use of the word “So” to start a sentence has been irritating me for some time. In my opinion this usage is totally redundant. The idea that its usage serves to “defragment” is total bunkum, but thanks for advertising the general problem.
Comment by Nick Bell — September 5, 2011 @ 2:02 pm
I noticed this trend six or seven years ago among my techie colleagues. I have listened to it spread. As of this summer my feeling is that it is used everywhere in the country, by all kinds of people, in spoken language and written. Now I just need to get over wincing every time I hear it, and double wincing when I do it!
Comment by mowich — September 15, 2011 @ 11:30 am
Having just listened to an interview on BBC Radio 4 here in the UK, in which each of the first 5 answers were prefaced by the word “so”, I found this discussion on Google. This usage seems to have crossed the Atlantic and has been becoming more prominent here over the last 2 or 3 years. I’m afraid I find it so, so, SO annoying!
Comment by David Shoesmith — September 16, 2011 @ 7:32 am
I also noticed this while listening to interviews on National Public Radio. I hate it! It comes across as dismissive (along the lines of “As I was saying, before I was interrupted”). “So” also seems to be used as a false connector- sleight-of-mouth used to evade answering a question directly and, instead, help the speaker return to prepared talking points.
Comment by Tom M. — September 21, 2011 @ 11:59 am
Most of these comments (and much of the article) miss the point. “So” is often perfectly natural as the first word in a sentence. What is new, is the use as filler, as a clearing of the throat, so to speak, where it has no attached meaning whatsoever, other than the speaker is not comfortable, just saying their answer directly. It’s a throwaway word, and adds nothing. The only reason that people use it that way, is because they think it makes them sound more scholarly perhaps. It’s an affectation, like holding a cigarette backwards, cupped in your palm, like the Russians do. It has become a fad. It may also serve as a crutch for nervous speakers. It seems to relieve the speaker of the awkwardness of the initial response. If there is a subconscious meaning to it’s use, it may be that it almost smacks of the speaker not actually responding to the question asked, but that the audience has just broken in on a lecture. “So”‘s main conventional use in connecting thoughts makes it natural to use as a verbal clue that you’ve caught a wise lecturer in mid presentation.
I’ve noticed it used in English by non-native Finns, perhaps it replaces a word that they use in their native language.
Comment by James B — September 27, 2011 @ 5:43 pm
So what.
Comment by Jeffrey lear — October 2, 2011 @ 7:32 am
Thanks for (I resisted my sophomoric urge to begin this sentence with the word “so”) bringing this irritating verbal tic to the fore. As an all-too-frequent watcher of CNBC, I’ve heard this “so” pattern from many interviewees. One wonders if they’ve been coached to so speak (couldn’t resist.) Whatever the cause, it’s distracting and annoying.
Comment by Gerald F — October 4, 2011 @ 8:30 am
It’s like, I feel, like, that Anand has really like nailed this annoying linguistic tendency! You know, like, when people begin a sentence with ‘So’, it’s … like, such an obvious verbal ‘placeholder’, like the person is just, like, unconsciously injecting their insecurity in an attempt to , like, sound authoritative! These kinds of verbal ‘filler’ words, are, like, so irritating!
Comment by Gurujyot Singh — October 26, 2011 @ 7:27 am
I noticed this “meme” of a non-causal use of opening “so” around 5 years ago in the UK, then almost exclusively in the tech/science field, often involving US or “mid-Atlantic”. Users almost always use it to preface an explanation. BBC Radio 4′s “Material World” is a rich and regular source of examples. Now this appears to be spreading to speakers in para-scientific areas, such as economics and sociology. I even heard a theologian using it on talk radio this year! To me, the “so” speaker is showing that they are in the experts club – they have special knowledge – and are condescending to share. A similar meme I have picked up is the pronunciation of the verb “estimate” to rhyme with “but” rather than “late”, making no distinction with the noun. Again, this is spreading between experts in statistics, economics, politics.
Comment by Alan Leigh — November 3, 2011 @ 5:27 pm
The point I think, is not just beginning a sentence with “so” such as, ” so, where were you?” or “so I walking down a dark road, right, and……’” but rather beginning responses to inquries made of the speaker, such as “what do you think of global warming?” with “So, ….”
It is the latter which is relativel new and, I find it disconcerting.
Comment by Fred — November 15, 2011 @ 12:26 am
In other words, so, I agree with James B., at 69 above!
Comment by Fred — November 15, 2011 @ 12:30 am
How wonderful! An opportunity to vent my absolute REPULSION at this language tick that seems to have reached epidemic proportions. Interviewees who begin their introductory response with the word, “So. . .” drive me up the wall. . .and I make no apology for it.
With great enthusiasm, I make my humble contribution and truly appreciate the opportunity to do so.
I’ve become so averse to hearing this language tick that plagues our intelligently listening public that I’ve reached the point of “zero tolerance” when it’s thrust upon me.
“If he is so inept with his language skills, as educated as he is SUPPOSED to be,” I surmise with a scowl, “he has nothing to say to me!” and I therapeutically respond by slamming my laptop closed.
It used to be that pressing the mute button on my computer would suffice for satisfying my repulsion; but, lately, I’ve begun pressing my laptop completely closed to eliminate the sound of his–or her–voice totally from my ears.
It seems to make no difference what the subject matter is–I simply refuse to listen to a speaker who lacks good basic speaking skills, yet claims knowledge and skill (in whatever field).
An extreme response?
Perhaps–but at least I feel better!
It’s the quickest way that I can deal with my profound irritation of being subjected, on a much-too-regular basis to this cultural phenomenon.
For years, I taught my children, “If you want people to listen to what you have to say, learn to speak well. The importance of speaking well cannot be overestimated!
“Otherwise, those who are as I am, who care about proper English usage, will have their minds on the grammatical errors you made a few sentences back, rather than on the principles of what you’re trying to communicate.”
Several months ago, I decided what I needed to do was write to the program where the offending speaker appeared, find out what the name of the speaker was and write to him–or her–informing the speaker of how irritating that tendency is and that he (or she) lost credibility with many of us because of that tendency to begin sentences with the word, “so” when it is unnecessary.
However, it’s such common usage, now, that I’d be spending half my day writing letters to organizations and individuals who couldn’t care less about how negatively affected so many of us are!
That’s why it is so-o-o refreshing to be able to communicate with others, such as myself, who “get it.”
Just as I do, you notice the misspelled words, the misused words, the possessives that are treated as though they’re contractions, the contractions that are treated as though they’re possessive, and plural pronouns that are so commonly used with singular subjects!
How delightful it was to read Gurujyot Singh’s entry of October 26 (#72)! As I read what he wrote, I laughed out loud.
Thank you for that very well-written response. It made the guest speaker’s faux pas on today’s “Morning Edition” almost worth it!
Comment by Shirley — November 15, 2011 @ 11:58 am
After having privately wondered in irritation about the growing use of “so”, I finally looked it up, and the responses here are very encouraging. I am relieved to hear that others are as irritated by it as I am! I am noticing that most of the users of “so” at the beginning of a sentence are young-ish, or younger than I am, perhaps 30′s or younger….I was at a talk last night and one participant answered EVERY question posed to him with “so”. I am sometimes a snob when it comes to diction and language, but really, this is terrible! If I start doing it myself, my friends have been instructed to shoot me!
Comment by Sarah — November 15, 2011 @ 10:50 pm
Now the word “so” is being used at the end of sentences.
It used to be used as a conjunction with minimal emphasis. Now, people make a point and immediately at the end of their sentence is SO. As if they are worried that know one will listen if they don’t tag it on there. It’s the beginning, the middle and the end of sentences, and it’s EVERY SINGLE PERSON I hear. Are we that unaware of what we are speaking? It’s worse than “at the end of the day” and “the reality is.” I miss and and but. The thing I hate the most is a clone.
Comment by mark javis — November 18, 2011 @ 6:30 pm
It mostly is a way for people to try to fit in. Why must we be such copycats? You’ll also hear people in talk radio saying aaaaaand…. thaaaaaaat…. soooooooo…. thanks Obama.
Comment by mark javis — November 18, 2011 @ 6:35 pm
I watch CNBC all day coz I am a day trader. When they are interviewing financial analysts and CEO’s etc I am amazed!!! ‘
About 75% of them now begin every answer to a question with “So,…”!!!!! To me it actually sounds like they are blatantly changing the subject but then they go ahead and answer the question.
So strange, but it shows how fast people will follow the herd.
My other one is how every American now orders food by saying “Can I have….” To me it sounds like they are asking if the restaurant still has the food in stock, as in “Can I have the blue fin marlin….or did you run out?” I always politely “I will have….”
Comment by James — December 12, 2011 @ 6:26 pm
Me from the last post again. I just realized I use “So” at the beginning of a sentence when I say “Yeah, so, I went to the zoo the other day” or I could say it without the “Yeah” I mainly use it only when I’m changing the subject and that is why it’s bizarre sounding to me when people start an answer to a direct question with a casual “so” at the beginning. I may be part of the problem myself, though, when it comes to using it in the way I mentioned I do.
Comment by James — December 12, 2011 @ 11:29 pm
I’m SO happy that this improper use of the word “So,” when used at the beginning of a sentence, and usually after being asked a simple question, is being questioned and publicly raked over the coals so to speak.
I have been incredibly irritated by coworkers, friends, TV and radio personalities, and even myself, for using the word “So,” to begin a sentence where it sits there and tries, rather unsuccessfully if you ask me, to imply some kind of feigned superiority over the audience. I completely agree with comment #39 here… and had a “YAY!!” moment after reading this…
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To me, it sounds like the person is saying: “. I was just about to tell you this, but I had to wait through your lame and redundant question. Are you done asking? Have your lips stopped flapping? Okay, then; I’ll continue. So…”
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Right-On! Yes, that’s exactly how a person sounds when they start their sentences with the word “So,”. Kind of like, So, let me tell you how this works, (and by the way, I didn’t listen to a thing that you just said).
Now, I know that most people do not think that it sounds this way, but in reality, or subconsciously, it does, and has been used as an effective tool in convincing the audience that the speaker is absolutely right. Which of course, they may, or may not be.
I don’t see this trend ending anytime soon, but I’m trying my best to not use it this way. It just sounds disrespectful to my ear, and judging by the number of comments here, to many others as well.
Comment by Sally — December 30, 2011 @ 11:43 am
Well, ‘so’ is also somewhat imperious if not a tab rude. It is also one those viruses following on from “very much so” and “literally.” Good authoratative speakers use none of these irrating redundancies except perhaps for “indeed.” So here is one for the pot: in English we say awe-thor (author), awe-tism (autism)etc but where on earth did okshun (auction) come from?
AW
Comment by AW — December 30, 2011 @ 4:39 pm
I’m another one who found this post as a result of searching for a confirmation of my belief that the use of “so” to begin a response to a question is relatively new, increasingly prevalent and extremely annoying. I agree that it comes across as the equivalent of, “As I was saying before you so rudely insisted on speaking…” or as the premature wrapping up and confirmation of an argument that has, in fact, yet to be made.
Commnenters Dan Mulligan and Kelly Carter, on Chris Stokel-Walker’s related post at http://stokelwalker.wordpress.com/2010/06/17/so-why-do-people-think-that-so-is-new/, suggest that it’s used in place of “um”, “I mean,” “you know,” and similar place-holders or stalling-for-time utterances and that it is less objectionable. I’m trying get myself to agree with them and in future be less irritated by the phenomenon. Time will tell.
Comment by Sarah — January 3, 2012 @ 9:07 am
It’s interesting to me how much this trend annoys the hell out of me. I know that it is not intended this way, but to begin an answer with the word “So” conveys to me the following: “To get back to my own train of thought, which was so rudely disrupted by your question…” “So” literally means “Thus,” which demands an antecedent. In an answer, the antecedent clearly cannot be coming from the questioner; a question presumes the lack of an answer, so to answer with an antecedent coming from the question would be pointless. So the antecedent must be whatever the answerer was pompously blathering on about before the question was asked. Hence my annoyance at this trend. Doubtless the rise of “Well” to begin sentences irritated my forebears.
Comment by Patrick — February 1, 2012 @ 1:45 pm
It is refreshing to hear all the responses to this article. Count me in as one of those annoyed by the use of “so” and a slight pause to begin an answer to an interviewer’s question. I agree that this seems to be the most rampant in the technology and intellectual communities and I notice it most on interviews I hear on NPR. That is probably because I listen to NPR a great deal so I am sure it is as rife elsewhere.
Another one I have been noticing is starting similar responses with the word “sure”. I think I am finding this even more annoying than “so”.
Comment by JohnH — February 13, 2012 @ 3:58 pm
I agree with the last three posters. It annoys me, I looked on Google for “so” being the new “uh” and found this page, and I hear it disproportionately on NPR than any other place.
Comment by RobE — February 20, 2012 @ 6:24 pm