"So" what's it all about?

In conversation, it's one of those tricks to give you a second longer to think about what you're going to say.

I hate it when people say ‘my bad’. Why?

I think it’s another American thing that has been adopted.
Any repetitive words can be irritating, for me it’s ‘like’ every few words, or people finishing with ‘yea? In order to make you agree.

What about "fantastic"? I count the number of times certain presenters use it when they are not talking about a fantasy. What does "cool" mean? "I'm good" seems to be used instead of "well" now. I think I'm on the wrong planet!

I posted about the same thing a while back. Drives me crackers. Predominantly used by the young. Watching interviews on news channels it's amazing how many interviewees start every sentence with it. Grr.

Grrr
So, basically........
Well, so.......
So, well.......

But... is the use of 'so' worse than the rising inflection at the end of a sentence? Thank goodness that habit seems to be dying a death, used to drive me round the bend.

This is quite amusing, language changes like fashion some things lasting longer than others. Now what gets to me are the following:

you know (short form)
you know what I mean (of course I do!)
so (be it)
basically (fundamental)
fantastic (no it's not)
see you later (NO you will not, and how is that possible when we are speaking on the phone) grrrr.

The problem with 'So — ' at the start of a sentence is that 'so' has a meaning — it isn't just a thought-space filler like 'Well'. 'So' means as a consequence of what you are talking about. It makes no sense at the start of an interview. Even experienced broadcasters fall into the trap. I wonder why there isn't someone at the BBC etc., paid to alert them to this type of habit.

'If that makes sense?' is another repeated end to any statement which I find irritating. The speaker must have no confidence in their communication ability at all.

Or 'do you understand what i'm saying'!!! lillyflower

I dislike all those previously mentioned irritants and add 'absolutely' to that list. Why not answer a simple 'yes', or 'I agree'?

My brother always ends a phone call with "see you later". He lives in Australia, I live in UK!

I dislike tv chefs/cooks who, when asked by a presenter what they plan to cook, use the word WE when there is obviously no-one else helping them.
'WE'RE going to fry OFF? some onions then we're gonna PAN fry (is there any other way?) the steak....blah blah.

I'm a pedant too.
I can't stand all this 'So.....' .
Perhaps it is buying time for whoever utters it whilst they think of what to say in the rest of the sentence.
But 'so' does actually have a meaning, so it's not usually correct usage.

"Joking me" is another one. i.e. people say "you must be joking me" when they actually mean to say "you must be kidding".

Not sure if it is, but it sounds like incorrect grammar.

Lilyflower - love that riposte!

I'm always amused by "then he turned round and said" which is then answered with "so I turned round and told him" These people must get quite dizzy!

America started the hated 'Laters' (Lay-durrs) when saying goodbye. People here say it, slavishly, but with an English accent.

The worst one for me is the North East's (Northumberland anyway) double negative when talking down to children, usually in a baby voice:

You like that, don't you not?
You've got a doggy at home, haven't you not?
You liked that, didn't you not?
And so on.....

I'm not from the North East originally but I do love it here! ?

I to dislike the term "hubby" it reminds me of a woman I used to work with who constantly referred to "her hubby" "your hubby" everyone's "hubby". I suppose it's a friendly abbreviation but not for me. I also get exasperated by some of today,s modern ways of speaking like a lot of the examples given on this thread, but equally by some people who you meet who use Latin words such as... ergo ( for therefore ) and trying to impress the average person with these words. Some Latin quotations are beautiful and I,m not meaning those but people who decide to throw in these random words for effect.

Yes, another who dislikes "hubby" - for some reason I picture a woman with tightly permed hair, wearing a pinny in the kitchen cooking for her man!

I am sure GNs who use this term to describe their husband are nothing like that

I don't mind most of the modern usage of words or phrases as language evolves. But I really hate it when people say ' I'm not being funny but ...'then they usually then go on to say something offensive or critical. How does saying I'm not being funny make it any less so?

Check out the opening line of the late Seamus Heaney's translation of BEOWULF - starts with 'So...'

So it does lovebooks. I'm not about to argue with such a literary giant as he. But I doubt it'll stop all the naysayers,

Starting a sentence with 'so' or 'well' can actually serve a useful purpose - it gives a hard-of-hearing listener time to mentally tune in to what is about to be said, making them much more likely to hear/understand what follows it. I know that is not why the people use it, but i think it's still worth bearing in mind before totally condemning this practice.

It drives me up the wall too. On a quiz programme t'other day the conversation was a bit like this:
'What do you do up in Northern Town?'
'So, I'm doing a PHD in special subject.'
'What do you do in your spare time?'
'So, I collect teddy bears.'
Ugh! Maybe throttling would be going too far.

My current pet hate is ‘so fun’. What happened to the ‘much’?