New York Times columnist David Brooks inspired me today by noticing that Meg Whitman, the California gubernatorial candidate, begins many of her sentences with the word "So."
I've got to say: So do a lot of people these days. Generally speaking "so" is supposed to be a conjunction and shouldn't begin a sentence, since it's meant to join two clauses. The word may be used as a summing up device at the beginning of a sentence. These days it's become a tic, an unnecessary and hollow preliminary little better than "uhhh" or "ummm." "So, I went to the store today to buy some cabbage." "So, you've sent me the wrong parcel." Ugh.
How did the "so" habit get started? I don't know, but let's stop.
No comments:
Post a Comment