Wednesday, 20 September 2017

It damn well IRKS me!

Why this newish craze, when asked a question to prefix every flaming answer with the word "So......"? As far as I'm aware it wasn't done even just a couple of years ago, but nowadays it seems like it's spreading like a flu virus. It happened on Radio 4's 'Today' programme this morning (on just the section I listened to) and again just now when I did a TV catch-up on the Cassini mission - and with two of the scientists involved.  Basta! Enough! Will you just CEASE! If you carry on with this nonsense I'll.......,I'll.......ooooooh! I don't know what I'm going to do! Just quit, will you! - STOP IT RIGHT NOW!!!!!
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26 comments:

  1. anne marie in philly20 September 2017 at 03:43

    "so, like, ya wanna, like, bitchslap somebody, like, right?"

    american jive - whatever happened to the king's english?

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    1. Raybeard20 September 2017 at 06:46

      Actually, I wasn't just talking about slang or 'street-talk', W.Q. - it's a mannerism that's crept into the vocabulary of even well-spoken people, including some professors, politicians and the like. Before long I expect to hear Her Maj herself use it!

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  2. Bob20 September 2017 at 06:02

    AM beat me to the sarcasm!

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  3. Mistress Maddie20 September 2017 at 07:45

    That bugs me too, as does the damn hashtag thing. Dont get me started on this beautiful morning.

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    1. Raybeard20 September 2017 at 08:08

      Got to get it out, M.M. As I get older I'm very conscious becoming one of those crusty old fogies who are always moaning that it was better in the 'good old days'. What often goes with it is that uch individuals alsso tend to become more politically reactionary in tandem, an accusation I hope I'll never justify.

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  4. Rachel Phillips20 September 2017 at 08:51

    I understand exactly what you are referring to Ray. John Humphreys uses it a lot. I really don't listen any more but the "so" at the commencement of a sentence to an interviewee I used to find was the immediate beginning of a horrible cross-examination. I prefer to read the newspapers and make up my own mind.

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    1. Raybeard20 September 2017 at 21:53

      It's the speed at which it's caught on that amazes me, Rachel. I truly hadn't realised that Humphreys himself was a serial offender because I'm more distracted by someone answering a question by starting with that little, though highly irritating, word. (Though I do wish that J.H. wouldn't keep descending into mumbling in his 'asides').

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  5. John Going Gently20 September 2017 at 09:29

    Knickers in a twist today Raymondo! Xx

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    1. Raybeard20 September 2017 at 21:53

      It's been a peeve-day, J.G. Better out than in!

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  6. Sol21 September 2017 at 01:56

    ha ha. My pet hate is when someone says Pacifically, when they mean SPecifically.

    I use SO, sometimes. I apologise for my sloppiness. :)

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    1. Raybeard21 September 2017 at 02:53

      The word itself is fine, Sol. I use it all the time. It's when it's used to start off answering a question that it really gets me. Two illustrative examples:-
      Q. What is your party's view on the downgrading for criminal possession of cannabis?
      A. SO we're opposed to any change.
      -
      Q. What is the capital of Michigan?
      A. SO is it Lancing?

      You get the picture.

      Can't say I've especially noticed the 'pacifically', but sure as eggs is eggs I'm now going to watch out for it!

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    2. Rachel Phillips21 September 2017 at 05:51

      And further, in answer to an answer they are now saying: "SO, this is what you are saying is it?" and that type of thing, which basically means they disagree and and proceed to tear it apart and then silence while they wait for another answer.

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    3. Raybeard21 September 2017 at 06:34

      The example of its use that you give seems acceptable to me, Rachel - unless it's said as "So. This is what you're saying is it?" - but "So THIS is what...." sounds okay to my ears. Maybe I'm splitting hairs? (I'm beginning to think it wasn't such a good idea to make a posting on the subject now - though only a teeny-weeny bit.)

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    4. Rachel Phillips24 September 2017 at 12:31

      It is not acceptable to my ears.

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    5. Raybeard24 September 2017 at 23:14

      Oh well. There we are. :-)

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  7. Ron21 September 2017 at 05:11

    Ray,
    Beginning a sentence with "so" is something I am guilty of. I am trying to break myself of this habit. By the way, did you see the movie "Mother!" I saw it with Pat here last week in Hamilton. He got it before I did. I was just weirded out, almost ready to walk out of the movie theater. Glad I didn't niw because it got me to thinking. Would be most interested in your take on this thought provoking movie.
    Ron

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    1. Raybeard21 September 2017 at 06:27

      Next week, Ron. It seems to be getting an equal number of boos and cheers here, and yours and Pat's reactions makes it even more anticipated. I'm intrigued, not least by its starry casting, and am expecting to like it on balance. But one never knows.

      As for the use of 'So' - fine if it means 'because' or 'as a consequence' or 'therefore'. But as a filler word I give it a resounding raspberry!

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  8. Moving with Mitchell21 September 2017 at 09:33

    So, I'm really sorry. But, well, I'm guilty of this and have been for years. I think it's an Americanism that has spread. I've been talking like this most of my adult life. I remember it being a New York affectation of sorts, but I could be wrong about that. So... do you still love me?

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    1. Raybeard21 September 2017 at 22:45

      It surprises me that it's been around in America for so long, Mitch. I don't recall it featuring in speech in American films until at least recently. On the other hand it doesn't surprise me that it could have spread from America, because so many things do. I'm just waiting for a phrase like "Come in already!" to catch on here, though as yet it shows no signs of doing so. May it keep its distance for a long time, if not forever.

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    2. Moving with Mitchell22 September 2017 at 09:41

      I hooted at this... well I didn't really hoot, but I DID smile broadly. When my sister married her husband (from the Isle of Wight), it drove him crazy when she would get fed up with him and say, "A'right a'ready!"

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    3. Raybeard22 September 2017 at 23:15

      It's the particular use of 'already' which I've never once heard from an English person, Mitch. It sounds just really 'alien' to my ears, as well as nonsensical. But, give it time.....

      Btw: I always wonder if the phrase "Give me a break!" uttered in exasperation to someone else's face sounds as rude to Americans as it does to the likes of me. When it's said by someone who isn't already known to the other person it sounds dreadfully confrontational, and I would never want to use it.

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    4. Moving with Mitchell23 September 2017 at 02:03

      My sense of "Give me a break" (or gimme a break) is that it's intended to be sarcastic among friends. Between strangers I would consider it rude, too.

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    5. Raybeard23 September 2017 at 05:54

      That's nice to hear, Mitch. To me it always sounds like "I've had to put up with your stupidity long enough and I'm not going to take it any more." It was once said to me in Amsterdam by an American whom I'd not met before, and it left me speechless. (Maybe he'd been high on 'grass' at the time).

      Another Americanism which I absolutely refuse to give in to is, when talking about films, refer to them as the 'm' word. It's caught on in a big way here. Everyone uses it now though 20 years ago you'd never hear it as a preference for 'film'. Now it's the first word of choice even by TV and radio critics. But if I've got to go down with the ship, so be it!

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  9. Ur-spo23 September 2017 at 17:01

    I suppose I will be hearing it everywhere now.
    Did you know the first word in Beowulf is "so!"?

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    1. Raybeard23 September 2017 at 22:24

      It's not the word itself to which I object, Dr Spo, but its being used where it has no meaning. So (= therefore), not being familiar with that particular first sentence to which you allude, it may well be, and almost certainly is, perfectly acceptable in the context in which it appears.

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