Use of word "so" undermines your credibility

I only use it when being a superficial jerk, so yeah!

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So…what?

Not buying this one. There’s a world of difference between starting a sentence haltingly with a “Sooooo…” or directly with “So, this is what we’ve decided.”

So, I will continue to use the word in its correct, semantically useful way.

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So it goes.

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it is like QED and Therefore, but condensed into two letters.

So, that’s how we use it.

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So, who died?

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Is that so?

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A friend of mine rewrote that part of the song with his own words and no regard for rhyme. I have to quote the whole thing because, well, just because. So there!

Dough, the stuff you make bread with,
Ray, an evil beam that kills,
Me, the guy who sings this song,
Fa, a stupid little note,
So, a word that means “who cares?”
Te, the letter after “S”…

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This article cites no sources and amounts to nothing at all except the observation that “so” is frequently used to initiate non- interrogatory sentences, rather than the grammatically correct usage when initiating some ‘questions’.  Concluding that it undermines credibility is purely sophomoric thinking and has no justification other than the author’s prejudices against thoughtful people.  It appears to have originated in our common discourse from the computer programming world and represents the initiation of a  well-reasoned argument, as compared to “Well, . . .” or “Um, . . .”  See this article in The Chronicle of Higher Education

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Harry Shearer has been devoting part of his “Le Show” to highlighting the use of “so” in media, like in radio interviews and other podcasts. All he does is take a segment and remove all the sentences that don’t start with “so”, then play what’s left. The result is ridiculous and OMG hilarious, and will convince almost anyone “so” is being overused.

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That’s pretty much when I started doing it, and I suspect probably when Silicon Valley/SF Bay Area started doing it.

The linked article ends,

Next time you’re asked, “What do you do?” try dropping the “so.” You’ll appear much more confident, and that little piece of discipline will actually sharpen your story.

You’ll be the guy that knows his stuff, rather than the guy that knows the script.

If only women had so little to worry about when they want to be taken like a guy that knows his stuff.

They way that ‘so’ is used in the examples of this article is almost foreign to me. I’m not buying it.

You used the word “so” in that sentence, so I’m afraid I can’t take you seriously. Shit, I used it twice.

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Thinking more on it, I can imagine the scenario the author might be referring to. I guess it’s just not a usage I see day to day, but may be a problem in certain circles.

Yeah, well you know that’s like just your opinion, man. (Hey, it works! I used a sentence with several unnecessary filler words and I’m sure it came across sounding like the words of a thoughtful person.)

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“So let it be written.
So let it be done.”

You can’t get more credible than that.

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Used at the beginning of a sentence, “so” is the corporate-speak conversational introit, functioning much the same as “like” does for teenagers. As such, it’s proper use is for jokes.

Ergo, one may thus reduce one’s usage of “so” accordingly.

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Using ‘so’ is still better than ‘um’ or ‘like’.

Last month I was eating pho at my favorite place (PPQ!) and couldn’t help but overhear the young man behind me speaking to his friend: ‘Like I went over to like her house and like she was all like…’

I counted 10 likes in 30 seconds then tried to block it out and finish my noodles quickly. In high school speech class my teacher drummed into my head the evils of Um…so I notice it when used excessively or by ‘professional’ speakers.

But ‘so’? A venial sin, comparatively.

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So say we all.

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