so!

[teenagersknowall]

I'm getting really wound up listening to people on the radio who, when being interviewed, start their answers with the word 'so'. Am i going mad?

No - YANBU. It seems to be the needless conversational addition of the moment. You know, like David Beckham saying 'you know' every two seconds a few years ago. I don't know if he still does it. Will I Am does it a lot on The Voice. Irritating and meaningless.

Look. I don't think worrying about the word so is the problem in fact recent statistics have shown that if you tune into Channel four news there is a far bigger problem.

Listen. I don't want to be the one to break it to you, but politicians and media moguls who start each sentence with a verb are far more annoying!

Ooooh, this is one of my current pet hates, too. Glad it's not just me. Every scientist Radio 4 ever interviews begins their answers with "So... "

Grrrrr!

People talking on the radio are warned not say "ehh" and "umm" so they use words like "so" instead. It's really hard to just leave a silence, everyone tends to fill it. Really experienced broadcasters can speak without pauses, for the most part, although there is one guy on Radio 2 in the evenings (Stuart Maconie maybe??) who says ehhh ummm eehhhhh all the bloody time. I have to turn him off it annoys me so much.

I know someone who does this in real life. It is hugely irritating.

I find that incredibly annoying too OP!

It's the new "Absolutely' or 'basically' IMO.
DD does it and drives me potty.

ooooooooh thank God for that! thought i was being a mad old bat. i was listening to Womans Hour (Apostrophe??) and the interviewee was driving me mad saying it at the top of every sentence. interesting post re radio rules. hadn't thought of that.

Woman's Hour teenagers. I've noticed it more in normal conversation than on the radio. It seems to be particularly prevalent amongst teenagers. They've probably picked it up from the telly.

Not sure about people filling silence. Often it is people who are less articulate who use those kinds of fillers. 'So' seems to be the new 'well' at the beginning of a sentence. It's the kind of thing my parents tried to drum out of me when I was a kid.

ohgetoveryourself - yes, 'look' and 'listen' really bug me. Politicians use those a lot. Very patronising IMO.