Feb 14

Written by: Nick Fox
Thursday, February 14, 2008 2:37 AM

The first time I heard someone begin a conversation with the word "so" was in the year 2000. I was working for a software company in Los Angeles. The person who used the word was a fellow software engineer. Usually it was in the context of explaining something. And it was always with an air of great knowledge as if it were a pronouncement from on high. It always began as a one word sentence. So. It did several things. It got your attention. It let you know that you were about to receive important information. It gave you the feeling that you were listening to someone who was really intelligent. My fellow engineer was very smart and people listened to what he said. I think he was the person who started this movement.

Pretty soon, I began to hear other engineers in the office use the word "so" to start off explanations and conversations. It made them look a little smarter too. You had to say the word "so" just right, as an exclamation. I then began to see the word being used more often. People in academic settings and software circles were using it in online videos. After a few years it was beginning to become mainstream. I would hear if often in the news. I could see it growing. I'm really not sure if people were aware of the word. It's just one of those things that seems to slip into common speech unnoticed. 

Recently, I was in the supermarket. I asked one of the clerks there where the soup was and the person looked at me and began "So..."

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