so = 'absolutely; utterly; such'

[Laurence Horn]

On Dec 9, 2011, at 11:00 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> It's noteworthy because it feels completely ungrammatical - certainly
> before the indefinite article.
> 
> Maybe 'so very much' is a better definition.
> 
> 
I don't think so, because standard use of "so very much" is scalar or gradable, while the Gen-X or Drama "so" (cf. e.g. http://microsyntax.sites.yale.edu/drama-so), appearing before predicate nominal DPs ("the opposite", "a cuddle day") or not, isn't restricted to gradable contexts.  Cf. e.g. "That's so not the right answer".   "He's so not Mr. Right".  'definitely' is a better gloss than 'so very much', I'd argue.  Or late 60's Californian 'fer sher'.

LH


> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 10:26 AM, Ben Zimmer
> <bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
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>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Ben Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
>> Subject:      Re: so = 'absolutely; utterly; such'
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>> 
>> On Fri, Dec 9, 2011 at 8:15 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>> 
>>> The news-gatherers at CNN report that international cultural
>>> super-icon Snooki has tweeted "I love my tattoos" and "Today is soooo
>>> [sic] a cuddle day."
>>> 
>>> The use of endemic current "so" (or, as usu. pronounced,
>>> /sou::::::::::/ [more or less]) immediately before an article is new
>>> to me.
>> 
>> Well, what Arnold terms "GenX so" has been modifying predicate NPs for
>> quite a while -- I'm not sure why the presence of an article modifying
>> the NP would be especially noteworthy. The OED cites an example that
>> Jesse uncovered from 1979, in the Woody Allen movie _Manhattan_: "Oh,
>> please, you know. God, you're so the opposite!"
>> 
>> --bgz
>> 
>> --
>> Ben Zimmer
>> http://benzimmer.com/
>> 
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> 
> 
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
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