So?

R

Roger Hicks

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Why do so many threads begin with 'So...'?

Does anyone know where this fashion came from? It seems not to be as popular among native English speakers as among Americans, and it seems to be almost unknown among those for whom English/American is a second language.

Just curious...

Edit: Frances has just pointed out that it's common in Russian. Are there other languages in which it's common? German? Yiddish? One of the other languages that has helped separate American from English?

Tashi delek,

R.
 
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HI Roger,
I don't know how it started or where it came from, but I think it is a device or way of engaging others, as if your question follows from an existing conversation. In "live" conversation, it can also be used to draw attention to yourself to indicate to others that you are about to speak.

So, how IS Frances doing after her cataract operation?
 
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Roger in Yiddish it is nu? means the same as so. Yiddish speakers say it about 450,000 times a day or thereabouts.
 
Roger,

Shut down your computer, grab a gear bag and go shoot....please.

Best regards,

Bob
 
rpsawin said:
Roger,

Shut down your computer, grab a gear bag and go shoot....please.

Best regards,

Bob
Click to expand...

Bob,

First, thanks to those who attempted to answer my question. I didn't know that nu meant 'so', though I did know that nu peppers Yiddish (and Yinglish) like tak peppers Russian and reyba (I think that's the spelling, though it's pronounced 'rewa') peppers Tibetan. And the idea that 'So...' implies an ongoing conversation is intriguing.

Now to address your reply.

I posted the original question at about 10 pm.

Thus far today (roughly in the order I did them) I started out by making a couple of revisions to a novel I hope to sell, co-written with Aditi. After that I worked on an article for one of the magazines I write for. Then I drove 50 miles or so round-trip to Chinon to take Frances in for a check-up on the cataract surgery she had on Monday (all going fine). I've done (with her) the shopping for friends who are coming to stay next week-end. I've helped her prepare the house somewhat for the guests. I've cleared up the garage somewhat to make it easier to work there. I've transferred the controls and clutch release mechanism from one Land Rover gearbox to another, and part stripped the old gearbox. I've shared cooking dinner with Frances. (Being a perfect wife, she did the washing up).

Oh; and since I got back from the Rencontres at Arles, a week before taking Frances in for the cataract surgery (60 miles away in Tours) I've been going through several hundred pictures I shot at Arles, as well as the ones I shot on Bastille Day.

At this point, your exhortation begins to look a tiny bit patronizing. I'm interested in language, and I've had a couple of excellent answers to an innocent question asked as a form of relaxation after a hectic day and indeed a hectic couple of months (tour of Southern and Central Europe in May-June, Arles in early July, Frances in hospital earlier this week, quite apart from the writing and working on the web-site).

Why don't you go and take some pictures? What's your excuse?

Cheers,

Roger
 
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I think it is catching on in Blighty even as we speak. I've noticed that when something goes pear-shaped on the evening BBC London news and the tele-prompter thingy goes wrong (it is a live broadcast so there can't be silence) the presenters have a habit of starting the next item with "So..." as they buy time whilst the producer is no doubt screaming in their ear.
 
... it's as if these little words become a habit ... but much better than '' you know ... ''
I don't do it though . Too old ?
 
So, Roger, I know you're a Land Rover fan and I thought I'd mention that I built a Series 111 Station Wagon from the ground up. Not a restoration but a new vehicle. It was 1985 spec. ,the last year for the Series111. It took a first place at British Car Day in Vermont. So, what do you think of that?
 
Roger, I`m weary just reading about your hectic schedule. Pleased to hear that everything is OK. As for "so" it`s odd that you menion it. There is a lady I know who finishes all her sentences with so. Maybe it`s a version of the rising intonation which seems to have caught on in the UK and is very annoying. Every statement becomes a question.
Ps Get yourself a new Landrover. I know,I know they are not the same as the series ones but ...
 
"you know" and "Right" are a clear sign that we are like all machines prone to loosen our tolerances as time goes by. I think both are better then "Ahemm"
For us non native speakers it is very difficult to see the difference between a lingual fad like "awesome" or "excellent" and colloquial expression.....and we are completely helpless when it comes to rhyming slang!
But So...! could very well have Yiddish roots as the posing of questions is an imporatnat element in (eastern european) Jewish humour /which is said to have its roots in legistic and thelogical discussions of Rabbis)
.....Tyrolians very often finish sentences with "odrr?" (oder) so that when you hear it the first time they sound as if they are looking for a conflict.
 
Probably the same reason people in England use the expression "RIGHT" then run off excitedly to do a task.
 
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About the phrase "So...": it started at Intel, in Fab 9 in Rio Rancho, New Mexico, in the 1990s. Seems like whenever a manager or engineer stood up in front of a group to speak, they would always begin their sentence with "So..." I think this was purposefully done as a way of not being accused of starting each sentence with "Uh...."

At least, that's my personal history about "So..." ;)

~Joe
 
Roger,

In Italian, an equivalent is "allora" as in "Allora, cosa vogliamo fare." "So, what do you want to do."

I do think FrankS nailed both ways it is used -- both as an artifice of a connector to a conversation or situation, close to its literal meaning --
"As long as we're here, what do you do?" "So, what do you do?"
"In light of ...." "So..." "As a result of ..." "So..."

and as an utterance to announce a forthcoming question.

Can't tell you whether the two are connected -- ie whether usage started with a real connection and evolved to a stand-alone connection to something.

In the US, my impression, possibly wrong, is that it varies across geography and ethnic group -- I think I hear it more on the East Coast than West -- and possibly among some ethnic groups than others.

Giorgio
 
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