so, regular readers might notice that i’m fond of using an introductory
so. i’ve never given a lot of thought as to why, where or when the affectation began, but
david weinberger
has an interesting
theory
:
“So — and, by the way, this is the proper use of “so”, indicating a conclusion is about to be drawn — I speak with some authority when I ask why “so” has spread so quickly among the computing class. Could it be that the shortened attention spans, the need to have hyperlinked escape routes out of every paragraph, the fracturing of knowledge and story into bytes and sound bytes — could all this be taking its toll, so that we resort to a false connectivity, the equivalent of starting a conversation by saying “Well, anyway”? Or is the “so” playing a different role, announcing that what follows is going to take at least a few sentences, a way of holding off interruptions, exactly equivalent to our children’s use of a rising inflection … at the end of sentences … to let us know … that they’re not done …, they’re not ready to relinquish the floor…, heaven forbid someone else should get a word in …. Or is it both: a false sense of logical connectedness and a brazen land grab of our attention?”
so – you go.