Travel Blog

My friend Greg writes:

So … I’m not sure when the trend began, but it seems to have grabbed hold of the tongues of pundits, experts, and other interviewees – particularly on shows like Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report or NPR’s Fresh Air.

It goes something like this: Terry Gross poses a question to her guest (i.e., “How could something like this have happened?”). In response, the guest’s explanation begins with the word, “So…” (i.e., “So, the reason this happened is…”)

As a conjunction, the word is intended to join or extend thoughts – not begin them. But it's not simply the misuse that is so annoying. An entry in The Urban Dictionary (urbandictionary.com) hits the nail on the head. It is No. 7 of the website's 42 "definitions" for the word, submitted by Papasanfolkhero:

"SO – The first word of any answer given by a know-it-all [expletive], said to give the effect that they were already speaking when you asked your question or requested their opinion, in order to feign superiority or to imply that they knew what you wanted to know before you inquired.
Man: "What sort of food does that restaurant serve?"
Know-It-All [expletive]: "So, they have asian fusion and cali fresh, not that you would know what those things aaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrrre..."

This entry was submitted in 2011, which probably means it's too late to put a stop to it all by now. So be it. I can only point out that we already have a perfectly good useless word – “Well” – to jump-start our explanations. "Well" won’t cause listeners to wonder if they’ve already missed something – and it certainly won’t put on any airs.

And don't even get me started on "I could care less."