So.... I mean....

[Joinfortmill]

Linguists and English teachers everywhere, help! A few years ago I noticed media commentators beginning statements with the word, 'So'. At the time I found it a mild oddity for folks who were considered professional speakers. A few months ago, 'So' morphed into 'I mean' which is cringe worthy. So, I mean, can we stop this? Asking for listeners everywhere.

[Walleye]

1. Well, I guess

[nordenbluejay]

3. nordenbluejay

"Yeah . . . ."

[lamp_shade]

4. Me? Guilty!

[doc03]

5. I mean it is what it is. nt

[dchill]

6. So, that happened.

[madaboutharry]

7. So, I mean, Um, You know...

These words are placeholders, pauses that give a person time to think.

When I was in a high school speech class, my teacher stopped me in the middle of my little speech and said: “If you can make it to the end without saying YOU KNOW, I’ll give you an A.” And I did I it!

[2naSalit]

8. I so know what you mean!

So, I mean, I very much agree.

[LakeArenal]

9. Sew......buttons

[Wounded Bear]

10. A needle pulling thread...

now live with that earworm in you head.

[sanatanadharma]

11. Well listen,

Another useless introduction into answering an interview question.

No, I asked you a question! Why should I listen?

[Beastly Boy]

12. My long-standing pet peeve. I was especially pissed when it migrated from

the spoken language to writing.

I mean every word I said, so I will end my rant here.

[Joinfortmill]

18. 👍

[Bayard]

13. I've really noticed lately

The new phrase for politicians: Let me clear.

[Beastly Boy]

21. And more often than not, it is followed by totally incomprehensible babble that tries to obscure

the subject being discussed.

[ancianita]

14. So let's see its history and understand its place in rhetorical contexts.

So I have these Jewish friends. I asked them why they start their sentences with that, and that it was a style I'd heard from my Jewish friends since the 60's in North Miami. Back then, I asked, too. At both times, both sets of friends told me that their culture initiated this start of sentences to signify that their conversations are part of a larger ongoing conversation. So it's a dialectical habit.

So what do you think? Should "so" become judged as inappropriate because it's used often?

I mean, so what?

You want to know what's a worse linguistic habit? "The fact of the matter is..." followed by an f'n opinion or unobservable, unsourced, unverified claim. That sloppy language ticks me off.

[Joinfortmill]

23. 👍

[Totally Tunsie]

15. "Honestly..."

No, lie to me, please.

[SKKY]

16. I noticed it a lot on NPR, but mostly with the science folks...

...when they were explaining something it would start like this, "So, the interesting thing about entangled photons...". So, yea, I naturally started doing it because, well, I wanted to sound intelligent. Now, I just sound like I have no idea what I'm going to say next, I just hope I'll be able to land the plane at some point. At least the expression "nothing burger" never stuck. I always thought that was silly and to be generally avoided.

[multigraincracker]

17. English is a living language.

It has taken a Valley Girl turn.

[johnp3907]

22. That would explain the rise of vocal fry.

😖

[johnp3907]

19. It is what it is.

To which I invariably reply: “No it isn’t.” Just to mess with people.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

20. "So" has been SO overused for ten years or... so.

It can be a funny way to open a monologue, similar to when Prof. Irwin Corey would begin a spiel with "However!"

[Ohio Joe]

24. So... No...

It would eliminate most of my posts

[ancianita]

25. So now put "so" in front of every header here. So it's a style. So it's not a problem.

[Talitha]

26. Something else I noticed that's popped up everywhere:

"That's a really good question."

Children seem encouraged and flattered when an adult says it to them, but to me it sounds patronizing when an adult says it to another adult. Been hearing it more and more lately.

[Iggo]

28. That's what you tell the cops if you're trying to be nice while waiting for your lawyer.

“That’s a really good question and I’d love to answer that as soon as my lawyer gets here.”

😂😂😂

[Joinfortmill]

29. 👍

[Iggo]

27. Don't tell me what you meant before you've said anything at all.

[Ms. Toad]

30. It is a habit I developed out of professional necessity.

I teach students to write bar exam essays. Until very recently, there was a 3900 character limit - and a lot of ground to cover in the 3900 characters. "So" is a nice short transition word which makes an essay that is otherwise very choppy flow more smoothy.

Now that I've developed it (along with losing the comma after "thus&quot I am discovering it is a hard habit to break.

[11 Bravo]

31. Like, let me tell you, you know ...