Have you noticed that otherwise intelligent people use the word “so” the way valley girls use the word “like”?
Reports are that computer geeks began doing “so” in the 1990s. Which conjures up the spectacle of first dates between geeks from Silicon Valley and valley girls from the San Fernando Valley. Not exactly the stuff of California dreaming….
But I find both words … like so annoying. Don’t you?
We generally heap condescending scorn on the airheads who litter every sentence with “like.” Perhaps we should reserve a little of that scorn for the smart alecks who begin every sentence with “So.” No?
NOTE: I published this commentary originally on January 25, 2013. I shall republish it from time to time – until using “so” becomes as gauche as “like.”