So, about that word

I do it all the time: begin my sentences with the word “so.” I do this frequently enough that a part of proofreading has now become the active removal of this two letter word from blog posts. I was chuffed to learn that The New York Times put writer Anand Giridharadas on the case.

This logical tinge to “so” has followed it out of software. Starting a sen­tence with “so” uses the whiff of logic to relay authority. Where “well” vacillates, “so” declaims.

…

“So” seems also to reflect our fraught relationship with time. “Well” and “um” are open-ended; “so” is impatient. It leans for ward, seeks a con­sequence, sums things up. It is a word befitting a culture in which things worth doing must bear fruit now, where it is more fulfilling to day-trade grain futures than to raise grain.

So, it’s a nerd word. And an impatient one at that. Sounds about dead on, frankly…