I think I’ll forfeit my fortitude when the next person who’s asked a question starts his answer with “So.” It’s like answering queries with “Therefore….”
— Where are you from? — Therefore I was born in Poughkeepsie, but grew up outside Memphis.
— Do you have an MFA? — Therefore I studied for two years at Vanderbilt, but dropped out before I got a degree.
— Can you see the letters on the bottom row? — Therefore they’re too blurry for me to make out.
The ornamental “so” from hell may be entrenched in our discourse now, parroted by legions of the influenced. How do these tics get started? The Kardashians?
(c) 2022 JMN — EthicalDative. All rights reserved
EthicalDative 
hahaha Therefore, you’re cracking me up here! Thanks for the laugh!
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So, you’re most welcome, Chris! Thanks for savoring my tongue-in-cheek rant! As a practical linguist I know that bellyaching over how people choose to talk is the most futile thing in the world. But it’s fun to spend a little hot air on it! 🙂 I’m keen to see how your tide pool painting is going.
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Oh Yeah, J! I had to laugh because I can hardly understand a lot of people speaking English, (my native language) so I can see how it must sound to someone that listens to the grammar, And wouldn’t it be great to go back in time 200 years and listen to people talk.
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I’ve idly fantasized about who I’d like to sit down and converse with (mostly listen to) from the past. Old Will Shakespeare is always a contender. I’d also like to hear John Donne preach one of his blockbusters.
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Good picks!
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So wonderful that so me one else gets so me what irritated hearing so me people, i.e., those so and so’s, who respond to all questions, begin (and al so destroy) all conversations with ‘so’… so on and so forth… 🙂
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Hah! I detect that it annoys you too. Surely this tic will die away before it embeds itself in our discourse! Famous last words.
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Weird the way tics/terms catch on. You hear someone say something novel (or contemptible) once or twice, then, all of a sudden, everyone is repeating the same foible – or whatever it is… yes, ‘tic’ probably describes it best! Are we humans really that conditioned, that mindless, as to be unable to speak as individuals, warts and all? One wonders!
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