To be irritated by sentences that start with...

[user1499127763]

Just a general observation- it seems to have become a trend to respond to a question by starting with the word 'SO.....,' Has this always been a thing, or have I just woken up to it?

It's not new I don't think but it does have a rather journalistic whiff to it...

I tend to click the back button when I see it, expect to see that someone has brought a house or maybe bought a Chester Drawers so I go and read something else.

I think "so" is a perfectly cromulent way to start a sentence, even if it doesn't exactly fill the grammar pedants with joy.

I'm much more irritated with sentences that begin with "Not being racist, but..." or "No offense, but..." because there's only one reason to begin a sentence/statement that way. It's because you're self-aware enough to know that whatever you're about to say is going to be racist/offensive.

To my mind, if you're that self-aware already, you should take it a step further and just not say that racist/offensive thing that's about to come out of your mouth.

It isn't new, you've just not noticed it before.

No it doesn't bother me at all.

YANBU but also YABU.

Although it sounds a bit yuppie it serves a purpose. It sets a storytelling scene and indicates a certain intimacy between the speaker and the listener.

I think you just haven't adapted enough. I used to hate "like" but now I see its usefulness.

I work with someone who does this ALL the time, so it does bother me, but I'm not sure I'd notice it otherwise.

Bothers the hell out of me. I always believed that "so" was a shortened of saying "therefore" and therefore it sounds (to me anyway) a hugely incorrect way to start a sentence.

So there was this thread that was started....

Yes op it really annoys me too!

Yes annoys me too. It sounds to me like the person is having a story dragged out of them but is secretly quite enjoying it.

For me, my trigger word is "everyone" as in "everyone likes..."- thinking of those baking programmes particularly here. For the record, no, i don't like bloody chocolate!

**Faithinthesound thank you for introducing me to the word 'cromulent', I just had to look that up

Isn't cromulent a word from The Simpsons, that was used as an example of a made up word?

Yes it was coined on the simpsons.

Doesn't bother me at all but "Look" at the beginning of a response makes me itch. I think it's because Tony Blair uses it in a very condescending way.

I've noticed people talking about this trend a lot more often than I've noticed examples of the trend itself. For what it's worth, most of the times I've actually seen "so" used in that way (and it's definitely seen, not heard - it seems to me to be used more online than in actual speech), it's been at the beginning of a story about something very frustrating and possibly a bit farcical that's happened. "So this morning at 20 past 8 David remembered to tell me that he needed a pound of sausages, a Victorian engineer costume and a full set of rugby kit including mouthguard for school today..."

It annoys me too. It's as if the story that is about to unfold is going to be ever-so-exciting, that it needs to be set up with 'so'. Urgh.

I heard a radio interview the other day about this and iirc 'so' has replaced 'well' by way of beginning a sentence.

But it annoys me too, OP. YANBU.

I hate the "not being funny but...."

Seems to me that every single person interviewed on the Radio 4's Today has it written into their deal that they are obliged to start the answer to every question/statement is 'So....' As I type someone has just done it AGAIN!

So... or Well... are ways of saying "I am about to start a sentence, please pay attention and let me gather my thoughts, don't start speaking yourself because I am starting now".

It doesn't serve much purpose when writing.

You may be noticing it more if you are spending more time than you used to reading people write-as-they-speak.

I knew this was going to be about "So..." before I even opened the thread.

I hate it.

Strangely though, I find myself doing it all the time.

I don't like it and usually stop reading and move on.

I hate it too. People starting sentences with "anyway" also annoy me.

I like it. I also like ones that start with 'and', which really seems to anger a lot of people.

I hate it. Reminds of my mother. She does a little hand flourish to go with the SooooOOO!!! when she walks through the door, and then plops down and launches into an hour long external monologue about absolutely shit all.

I think she thinks she's on Wogan. Sad.