Lexicon Valley: Beginning and ending all of our thoughts with “so.”

Lexicon Valley: Why We Start Sentences With the Word So.

Lexicon Valley: Why We Start Sentences With the Word So.

A show about the mysteries of English.
April 23 2012 12:15 PM

So …

Bob Garfield and Mike Vuolo on a little word with big ambitions.

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Listen to Lexicon Valley Episode No. 7: A Needle Pulling Thread

Have you noticed the seemingly stratospheric rise of the word “so” in recent years? People use it not only as a conjunction or an intensifying adverb—as in “That’s so awesome!”—but also to begin or end sentences in a manner pregnant with implied meaning. So … Bob Garfield and I set out to determine what this sort of “so” might in fact be accomplishing.

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