Speaking of language (which is probably the most appropriate thing to do with it, really), I wonder if readers have also noticed the increasingly prevalent use of the word “so” at the beginning of a sentence.
This new grammatical quirk came to my attention only about twelve months ago, but since then it seems to have become more frequently and widely used.
The word “so”, when not used as an adverb, is a coordinating conjunction: it is employed to link two clauses, the second of which is dependent on the first. It therefore belongs, strictly, in the middle of a sentence, not at the start.
Of course, coordinating conjunctions frequently are used at the beginning of a sentence, notwithstanding the purist’s view that this is a solecism. My grandmother, who taught English, used to drum it into me that one should never start a sentence with “and” or “but”. Nevertheless, I do.
So I have no huge objection (as you can see) to starting a sentence with “so” if it acts as a coordinating conjunction with what has been said in the previous sentence. But (there I go again) I can see no grammatical or logical justification for using a coordinating conjunction when nothing has been previously said at all.
Recently, the Welsh select committee heard evidence from a senior executive of a huge international corporation. She was smart, manifestly highly intelligent and clearly a native English speaker. However, she insisted on prefacing her reply to almost every question with the word “so”. Because the word was so incongruous (she having said nothing previously to justify the use of a coordinating conjunction), it detracted considerably from the impact of what she was actually saying. No doubt it will be edited out of the transcript.
I suppose that “so”, used in such circumstances, is something of a non-word, rather like “well”. It is probably employed to give the speaker a scintilla of extra thinking time. It is no more irritating than “like”, “you know” or “I mean” (in fact, rather less irritating). It’s just that it appears to have come from nowhere and to have spread with amazing rapidity. It also has a foreign, vaguely Germanic feel to it.
If readers can suggest where this strange linguistic affectation has come from, I’d be fascinated to hear from them.
So please do write in.
Yes I have noticed that but even more irritating than that I have just been watching Hazel Blears on television exhibiting the Labour trademark.
“Now look” is a phrase which is used across the ministerial brigade.
It is not confined to Labour but was started by Tony Blair and has become ever more used by the Labour aristocracy to tell people what is good for them, what Labour have done for them and what Labour is about to do for them.
It is irritating and hectoring and I advise that anyone thinking of challenging for Government steer clear of the phrase. It puts me off straight away because it assumes that I don’t know and that I will now be taught.
Otherwise, have a nice day.
Responding to your direct question about “so”, I believe that the use has grown from a need to abbreviate.
A discussion may have taken place before the use of “so” and the use of the word sums up all the previous talk and is a means of moving on to the next part. It is not necessarily a correct use of the word but it is a friendly word which is often inclusive to those present.
It can be used in conjunction with other words in this context as a starting point in a conversation – “So, how can I help?”
There are all sorts of changes in the use of language. Many changes start with one person using a phrase, especially in a National arena and others thinking that it sounded good. We all learn from copying others.
In further consideration of the use of the word “so” and its possible origins, I have concluded that it may be connected to the availability of foreign travel, especially to Germany and associated countries.
I visit Austria for instance and I enjoy the experience of meeting people there. Often the German speakers will start a sentence with a phrase that sounds like “Ah so” using a z instead of an s but you get the picture.
It is easy to get into the way of imitating such a phrase and it is so like the English “so” that it may have caught on from there. That is my thought on the origin for what it is worth.
So what do you think
(summing up and moving on)
This usage of “so” may be connected with a style of speech from across the Atlantic, used mainly by people in their teens and twenties. I have friends in Canada & the USA and during webchats they often use “so” at the beginning of a sentence to indicate a piece of news or to start a topic – for example, “So my new computer arrived today” or “So my sister is moving back home”. I’ve also seen “so” used in this way in messageboard posts, again mostly by younger forum users.
Lately, I have heard many a learned interviewee answer a query by starting with the word “so”. ex: “Where did you hear that?”. Ans. “So, I was at the barbershop”.
Is this a regional colloquiallism?