[Ads-l] Sentence-final though / tho / doe

[Jonathan Lighter]

I've been noticing the final "so" for years, maybe even a decade or more.

It's like an afterthought, as though the speaker thinks more could or
should be said, but doesn't know what or why.

Maybe it encourages the interlocutor to suggest something.

Like, "so what?"

JL

On Thu, Nov 6, 2014 at 7:23 AM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: Sentence-final though / tho / doe
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> One difference: sentence-final "but" connects the uttered thought with a
> lat=
> er one that's left unexpressed, but sentence-final "though" connects it
> with=
>  whatever was said previously.
>
> This reminds me that I've also seen a lot of sentence-final "so", with an
> un=
> expressed obvious consequence, like "and that's why I didn't do what I
> menti=
> oned earlier." For example, "I was going to wash the car but it rained so."
>
> Neal=20
>
> > On Nov 5, 2014, at 9:11 AM, Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU> wrote:
> >=20
> > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> -----
> > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > Poster:       Arnold Zwicky <zwicky at STANFORD.EDU>
> > Subject:      Re: Sentence-final though / tho / doe
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> -----
> >=20
> >> On Nov 4, 2014, at 7:42 PM, Neal Whitman <nwhitman at ameritech.net>
> wrote:
> >>=20
> >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header =3D
> > -----------------------
> >> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> >> Poster:       Neal Whitman <nwhitman at AMERITECH.NET>
> >> Subject:      Sentence-final though / tho / doe
> >> =3D
> >
> --------------------------------------------------------------------------=
> =3D
> > -----
> >> =3D20
> >> Anyone have anything to say about sentence-final "though / tho /
> doe"?=3D=
> 20=3D
> >=20
> >> I've heard it from my son and his peers, and seen it on some
> internet=3D2=
> 0=3D
> >=20
> >> memes. On the surface, it's nothing more than the ordinary=3D20
> >> sentence-final "though", but its (possibly over-perceived)
> frequency,=3D2=
> 0=3D
> >=20
> >> and presence in a very informal register, often in AAE-influenced=3D20
> >> language (as indicated by the "doe" spelling) make me think there's =3D
> > more=3D20
> >> to the story. Below are a lot of Urban Dictionary entries I've =3D
> > collected=3D20
> >> for it....
> >=20
> > not in my files.  vaguely reminiscent of a discussion of sentence-final
> =3D=
>
> > but/so/then initiated on the newsgroup sci.lang in 2006 by a poster =3D
> > using the name sylh (then at smhttiki at hotmail.com ), with examples from
> =3D=
>
> > Scottish, NZ, and Australian English (to which one poster added Hawaiian
> =3D=
>
> > Pidgin).
> >=20
> > arnold
> >=20
> > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>



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