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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To wonder why people start sentences with So! When there is no reason to?

31 replies

Rjae · 07/08/2015 08:29

Interview. So Mr x, why is the band base rate increasing?

Reply. So. (Pause). It's to do with the stability in the economy ......

There is no reason to use so! It's the latest 'y'know' verbal mannerism.

Stop it, it's annoying!

OP posts:
justabigdisco · 07/08/2015 08:34

Whenever they interview a cricketer they always start with 'look' or 'listen' which really annoys me. Every single one!

broomy123 · 07/08/2015 08:36

Starting with look is very Australian! I can see why you would say so if you were changing a subject as a bit of a warning type thing but not in the interview scenario!

MyballsareSandy · 07/08/2015 08:37

I've recently realised i do this when I'm struggling to think of something to say. Never with close friends or family, but colleagues and new people.

ThroughThickAndThin01 · 07/08/2015 08:37

Yabu. I like it. It seems very modern.

Cynara · 07/08/2015 08:39

I've noticed it a lot in OP posts in threads. It annoys me so much that when I see a thread beginning "So..." I just stop reading and go back to the board.

BlackeyedSusan · 07/08/2015 08:39

so what?

Trufflethewuffle · 07/08/2015 09:14

So at the beginning isn't as bad as the trailing so at the end, so...

ewanhoozami · 07/08/2015 09:16

I find it really PA

MiddleAgeMiddleEngland · 07/08/2015 09:17

It really annoys me, in the same way as people saying "like" about a dozen times in any sentence. It's often when answering a question, I think.

"Are you going on holiday this year?" "So, we're going to Devon."

"How has your house move gone?" "So, we've nearly unpacked now."

MyGastIsFlabbered · 07/08/2015 09:17

I do this all the time, no idea why Blush

FuzzyWizard · 07/08/2015 09:19

In formula one every interview response starts with "for sure"... I thought it was a recent thing but was saw an Ayrton Senna interview recently and he was doing it 20 odd years ago!
I don't mind a sentence starting with "so" or "right" as long as it's not the same bloody thing every time.

ShotgunNotDoingThePans · 07/08/2015 09:19

I think it started as an American thing, didn't it? It seems to fit in with the verbal style anyway.
Can be a bit self-aggrandising I think.

Rubbishfeminist · 07/08/2015 09:22

Grin I hate this so much.

I also hate the ridiculously unnecessary use of the word 'like'. I watched this video yesterday: www.buzzfeed.com/chloezak/americans-try-extremely-british-snacks#.uuZwr4NZe and the guy in the green T-shirt just made me want to, like, poke my own eardrums until they bled.

I also hate it when people talk about something being 'a thing'. Example:
Me: I shat myself at work today
Cunt: Oh, like, is that a thing now?

I also hate it when people say 'I can't even'. What, you can't even what? Dick.

Basically, I hate everything and everyone on Buzzfeed.

gunnsgirl · 07/08/2015 09:24

As an audio transcriber, I've noticed the use of so at the beginning and at end of phrases creeping in. I'm allowed to edit it out of some documents, whereas the pure verbatim scripts I'm not and that together with the use of like, kind of etc is beginning to drive me mad.

Totally unnecessary.

INT: Did you find your way here easily today?

RES: So, yes I did actually.

Grrrrr....

FarFromAnyRoad · 07/08/2015 09:25

Me: I shat myself at work today
Cunt: Oh, like, is that a thing now?

So this made me, like, piss myself laughing! Grin

Charley50 · 07/08/2015 09:27

I listen to radio 4 a lot and they do it all the time on there, but especially on science-y kind of discussions. I can't bear it and so glad I'm not alone in this. Grin
I've noticed that 'absolutely' has had its heyday though.

Pumpkinette · 07/08/2015 09:33

I will sometimes use it at the beginning of a question but never just a random sentence.

''So what time is the train leaving again?'' - works fine

''So time to leave for school'' - doesn't work.

It's also helpful when changing the subject in a conversation.

Original poster
Rjae · 07/08/2015 09:45

I've also noticed it a lot on radio 4 scientific items Confused

Like is also infuriating and unnecessary.

So, yes. It is a modern thing which will hopefully die the death soon

OP posts:
Original poster
Rjae · 07/08/2015 09:46

Glad it's not just me being a pedant Grin

OP posts:
00100001 · 07/08/2015 09:48

So... It's kind like you know like how umm you know how people just talk now, you get me? Totes ridic, right???

00100001 · 07/08/2015 09:49

At the end of the day, moving forward, we should all like , umm, totally, be thinking outside if the box here and driving peeps to adopt a bluesky way of talking

Jackie0 · 07/08/2015 09:55

Radio 4 was the first place I started to notice it too.
I think it's something to do with media training a lot of people get these days.
It creates a complete sound bite rather than being obviously an answer to a question.
That's my theory anyway.
I'm not a fan.

JeanneDeMontbaston · 07/08/2015 10:06

'Hwaet! We Gardena in geardagum ...' is the first line of English poetry; the KJB uses 'And lo!' or just 'lo!' ... I think it's probably fairly natural to start with some sort of place-filler word that just alerts you to what's coming (like saying 'listen up, I'm going to speak now', but more brief).

BatmanLovesMenInEyeliner · 07/08/2015 10:20

Rubbish - that's Keith! How can Keith make you want to poke your own eardrums? Shock Grin

5446 · 07/08/2015 11:09

Have to admit, I do use it a lot. I speak a couple of languages and always find it worse when I spend time in Europe, so I assume it is something I have picked up from there.