So?

FrankS said:
There was this boy at my high school with a very pronounced British accent, even though he came to Canada with his parents at age 3. He was very full of himself.
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I'm told that I speak with a bit of a Scotch Canadian accent. I must have learned that from my maternal Gram, who was from PEI, or my paternal Great Gramps, who was from NB. On both sides of the family the Candians emigrated from Scotland about 1815 or so. Sometimes accents seem to cross generational lines even though nobody in my family has seen Scotland for more than a short vacation in last five generations

I'm also told that I'm full of myself. 😀
 
I worked with a man in Montreal who spoke both English and French-Canadian. I remarked to him that I found him very tolerant of my very poor French, and he laughed and said that French-Canadians appreciate when people try to speak French. The French, on the other hand...he told me of a Frenchman who came to work as a consultant and who was apparently horrified by the French spoken by French-Canadians. My friend told me that the Frenchman "told me how to say my own name."
 
kbg32 said:
I love listening to the BBC news. "Their" pronunciation of certain English words really threw me at first. "Con - trov - o -see" (controversy), is my favorite.
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Why do they (Brits) add an extra syllable to "aluminum"?

And I wonder if their "laboratories" are populated with evil scientists.
 
szo,...

szo,...

szo,...

roger, i haven't any insights or illumination to share with you regarding your initial posting. it does, however, reminded me of a very happy and fulfilling period in my life.

please accept my digression here as i share a fond memory regarding "so,...".

dr. walter ducloux, (born in switzerland) conductor of many operas with the austin lyric opera, would sometimes use "szo" (during rehearsal) at the beginning of a sentence where he would share thoughts, instructions, guidance, and illumination with the chorus and/or the orchestra. at times he use "szo" as a sort of preparatory command, or he would use it to give the listener an opportunity to think about what he had just shared before proceeding, and sometimes as an expression on it's own.

i had the privilege and honor and great fortune - as a member of the austin lyric opera chorus - to learn some of the finer nuances and intricacies and the very heart, the very soul of the operas he conducted in austin, texas. like many, many other chorus members i had the opportunity to grow as a person as a result of the unqualified acceptance and kindness and love and tremendous generosity of spirit that made dr. ducloux the person he was. :angel:

thank you roger for stirring a fond memory. i apologize for not being having a response that addressed your query and for creating some thread-drift here. thank you, everyone else for bearing with my off-topic post fished out of the the gulf stream of my consciousness. 🙂

adieu.

kenneth
www.neverforgetbeslan.org
 
(disclaimer: I have only read the first 30 and last 6 posts.)

I find that I use the "So [Name]..." construction to ease my way into a conversation with an uncertain outcome. As when asking for a raise, favor or date: "So Jeanne, I've been doing a great job and all..."; "So Colin, would you be able to work Thursday afternoon..."; "So Nichole, would you like to see Bob Dylan next week..."

I rationalize that adding the "So" makes it seem like the idea just occurred to me, and I have little risk at stake in the question. In the past 10 years or so, I have noticed that this form does not affect the turnout of the question. Further it gives the impression that I am socially timid. While my timidity is based on my state of mind, it is not a trait most people would assign to me. So, (😉) I have been consciously trying to remove it from my speech.
 
When I lived in New England a "Cabinet" was a milkshake. When I lived in Kentucky all soda were called a "Coke". Now that I live in South Florida, most folks don't even speak English. Nu? I mean, so?
 
...and a milkshake wasn't made with ice cream until you got south to Providence. Also, the letter R doesn't exist in New England except when a word begins with it. Oh yah, we used to use "fillum" in our fillum cameras.
 
Gumby said:
I'm told that I speak with a bit of a Scotch Canadian accent. I must have learned that from my maternal Gram, who was from PEI, or my paternal Great Gramps, who was from NB. On both sides of the family the Candians emigrated from Scotland about 1815 or so. Sometimes accents seem to cross generational lines even though nobody in my family has seen Scotland for more than a short vacation in last five generations

I'm also told that I'm full of myself. 😀
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Is this before or after the Scotch and the Canadian, hopefully in separate glasses? ;-)
 
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Per Wikipedia, the U.S. has the greatest number of English speakers, followed by India, Nigeria, the UK, the Phillippines, Germany, Canada, and France.

Ranking numbers in my head, it appears the U.S. has the most folks who speak English as a first language, followed by the UK, Canada and Australia.

On "So...": It's an obvious piece of verbal punctuation, but I concur that it's current American popularity stems from its use on Seinfeld. Yada, yada, yada.
 
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