Every now and then I run across someone who has posted their version of a “top 10” list of things in life that they find annoying.
Here’s my version of a “top 2” list of things I find annoying. These highly overused words in everyday speech . . .
- “So”.
- “Absolutely”.
Maybe it’s my imagination, or does it seem like more and more people are beginning their responses to virtually any and every question posed to them with the word “so”?
So to me, it seems like it’s occurring incessantly so. The exasperating overuse of the word “so” at the beginning of almost every sentence is just, well . . . oh-so annoying! Don’t you agree?
So (I know, there it goes again!), I hear sentences starting with the word “so” all of the time on cable news program interviews. For example, a journalist might ask some self-proclaimed subject expert about their views on the fascinating and stimulating topic of “global warming”, for example.
So the interviewee will then respond, “So, according to my latest research on melting glaciers, the whole state of Florida will be 10 feet underwater this time next year . . . perhaps sooner.”
And to make matters worse, the interviewer then follows that up with, “Do you really believe that figure to be so?” And here goes annoying point number 2 . . . they’ll respond with yet another overused word in the English language, “Absolutely!”
I kid you not. I recently watched an episode of This Old House that featured the host interviewing an interior designer while they were walking around a restoration project’s completed dining room. During a five-minute span, the interior designer started each response to a question with the word “so” a total of nine — count them — nine times!
So, a few “absolutely’s” were thrown in as well. All so unbelievable!
So, where did this infatuation with the word “so” start anyways? And why, instead of responding to questions in an affirmative manner with simple, one-syllable words such as “yes” or “sure”, but instead, the more complicated four-syllable word, “absolutely” over and over and over again, I’ll never understand.
So, for anyone out there who just can’ start a sentence without using the word “so”, please try giving everyone — including yours truly — a much deserved break . . . and why? You guessed it. So that we can all gain our sanity back (yep, couldn't help that one either).
So, there you have it (uh oh, there goes another use of that simple, but oh-so annoying “so”!) Please, please say it isn’t so.
“Absolutely!”