So, about this message...

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've noticed this too, likewise recently.

  It seems to mean, "Your question is ill-informed or absurd, which is about what I'd expect from the likes of you, so I'll answer one that's only superficially related instead."

  But in the nicest way.

  JL

Charles Doyle <cdoyle at UGA.EDU> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: Charles Doyle
Subject: Re: So, about this message...
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Nicely put!

Only in the last year or two have I begun noticing on TV that nearly every response to a question from an interviewer or anchorman begins, "Well, . . ." Has that always been happening? Now, when an answer DOESN'T begin with "well," it sounds abrupt, curt, blunt, or unthoughtful.

--Charlie
___________________________________________

---- Original message ----
>Date: Thu, 26 Oct 2006 06:17:36 -0700
>From: GLL
>Subject: So, about this message...
>To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>
>
>This use of 'so' may both be as much a new use as it is a new application of an existing tool. I've heard radio ads start with 'so' in the same manner.
>
>The use of 'so' implies a continuation of a current conversation, indicating an extension or a conclusion of a previously established line of reasoning. If indicating a conclusion, 'so' may be used to indicate a shift in the topic: now that [n] had been settled, we can move on to our next agendum.
>
>In advertising, or in the case of someone initiating with 'so,' the speaker is trying to establish more familiarity, and therefore a fuller, more complete, or quicker response. Quickness is impled because the speaker is also implying that the social protocols which establish familiarity and a willingness to interact have already been satisfied.
>
>"You have already authenticated me as a valid speaker and a valid topic - We can now move on to a topic extension or change the subject while retaining the 'OK to talk with' flag."
>
>So, the 'so' ploy is an attempt to override our normal firewalls we employ when a stranger approaches and starts talking. We first try to figure out WHY we should respond: do I *know* this person, is this person a mental defect talking to himself, or maybe he's got a Bluetooth phone in his opposite ear and his words are part of a conversation to which I am not actually being invited to respond, or perhaps this is a customer service situation and here is my next customer with a question.
>
>This use of 'so' is a bit aggressive, meaning 'I don't want you to waste anyof MY time authenticating me - just start listening to my next topic NOW.'
>
>- G

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