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

[Laurence Horn]

I think for both this and the utterance-final "but" Neal mentions, both of which I've heard a bunch and no doubt use myself, I'd transcribe it

"I was going to wash the car but it rained, so…"
"I like your idea, but…"

I agree the UF "though" is different, and I wouldn't use a comma and ellipsis there.

LH


On Nov 6, 2014, at 7:33 AM, Jonathan Lighter wrote:

> 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
>> ------------------=
>> -----
>>> 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
>> 
> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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