So, about this message...

[Jonathan Lighter]

Possibly what strikes us as "new" is a more frequently condescending tone in the "well."

  JL

David Bergdahl <dlbrgdhl at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
  ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender: American Dialect Society
Poster: David Bergdahl
Subject: Re: So, about this message...
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Well we remember Reagan's discourse-opener, "Well, ..."
-db

On 10/27/06, Mark A. Mandel wrote:
>
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender: American Dialect Society
> Poster: "Mark A. Mandel"
> Subject: Re: So, about this message...
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> GLL wrote:
> >>>
> 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.
> <<<
>
> I'm used to it as the beginning of jokes:
>
> "So this Martian walks into a bar..."
>
> Maybe it's a way of pretending that the joke has something to do with the
> previous discourse.
>
> -- Mark
> [This text prepared with Dragon NaturallySpeaking.]
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org



---------------------------------
Stay in the know. Pulse on the new Yahoo.com.  Check it out.

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org