To be irritated by the popular responses to questions starting with 'So...'

[hesbeen2021]

Listening to radio 4 on my commute to work I realised that every single time a person was asked a question, the responder paused and then said 'So....' and finally answered the question ( or not!)
This is clearly a fad that has only started happening recently and I'm usually fairly easy going. However I'm felling my hackles rising just waiting for the pause and ........'So...'

I don't think this is new. I remember being told off for the same thing at work in 1998.

It all began with a "so" when I met DH....it has its positives!🤣🤣

Drives me up the wall. Try watching Pointless. They all say it.

So what is your point

It’s not recent. It’s filler to help someone formulate in their head what they’re going to say. It’s just the same as “Well …”, which we also hear a lot.

The one that irritates me is “Look …” as it sounds too much like an order, and I don’t like being told what to do. 😁

Its a processing the response word. It gives the responder time to collect themselves before they answer. It really doesn't matter whether its so, or erm, or well, as long as it gives the responder chance to think and be composed its fine.

That's a legitimate use of 'so'.

I think the OP means something like this -
Q: When are you going shopping?
A: So I thought I'd go at 2 pm.

Utterly redundant.

In response to pp - there often is no pause at all after the word 'so', no gathering of thoughts etc.

Its been around for ages and is just something that was fashionable, made you look clever and gave you a bit of thinking time.

the latest, and just as irritating, is 'thats a good question'. No its not. Its a question.

I dislike sentences starting with "so"

However I dislike even more the "look..." and "listen..." beloved of politicians

Annoying yes, but new? No.

I hate 'look...' at the start of a sentence too. Seems patronising somehow. Like no? at the end of a sentence! ... 'So you understand that you are wrong about this no?????'

To y Blair was terrible for beginning sentences with “Look..”. As if addressing an obtuse sixth former who wasn’t getting his point.

Even worse, when they (often the politicians,) say someone's name after it, eg, 'look Deanna....!' It's like they're saying 'listen to what I'm saying you plebby twit!'

That's not only pathetic it's wrong. The person should reply You are right, the answer is no, I am not wrong.

Just watch Pointless and you will see. Saying so is so - pointless.

YANBU, it drives me nuts. Also "So, basically...." - getting them all in in one go, argh!

@ValerieCupcake Yep!

YANBU. It IS quite recent, certainly started as a trend in the last decade, whether you can find prior examples or not.

I like this analysis NPR.

A new one that is starting to grate is for interviewees to start their reply with "That's a great question". In most instances, the question was barely average.

It's been around for a while. I know because I've been finding it annoying for several years, now! I hate it, but there's nothing you can do about it. I guess I'm luck that no-one I speak to regularly seems to use that particular verbal crutch.

That drives me mad too and I would also expect Alexander Armstrong to know the difference between fewer and less! Having said all that I got three pointless answers in the final yesterday, not so humble bragging!

Annoying things on Pointless is a whole topic by itself.
So glad they come down hard on "before my time".
Imo, they should come down a bloody sight harder on people who say things like "Ooh, my answer for an element containing the letter 'm' was going to be 'yttrium'. But that's been taken, so I'm going to say... Domestos!".
Godsake!

I do it.. just the way I talk and everyone around me has always done it. I’m not ‘faddy’ in any way shape or form 😂

i don’t understand why Mn is always so mad about bizarrely tiny little things?!