The initial "so"

[Arnold Zwicky]

On Jan 26, 2011, at 10:26 AM, Michael Sheehan wrote:
>
> Something I've noticed recently: many interviewees begin every answer
> with "so." For example, a secondary-market specialist on CNBC a few
> minutes ago was asked, "How do you make money?" His answer began with,
> "So, the way the secondary market works . . ."
>
> I've also heard the useless and obtrusive "so" on CNN during
> interviews. Is there a purpose that I'm missing?

some Language Log discussion:

ML, 8/22/10: So new?
 http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=2570

and it's been discussed on this mailing list at least once before (probably more), but it's hard to search the archives for.

arnold

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