SO!

Posted on 22/11/2018 00:07 by

Agree that the tendency to start a sentence, which is a reply to a question, with 'so'; or to introduce an idea with 'so', is very annoying.

Other irritating (to me) modern speech habits:

- the upward (Australian?) inflection

- using "X and I" when "X and me" is correct (hyper-correction)

- failing to use a gerund when its use would be correct

- vocal fry

- could 'of'

- 'absolutely' when 'yes' would suffice

- physical punctuation

- 'like', when the speaker cannot articulate  a comparison (usually accompanied by physical punctuation)

- speaking. really. slowly. as. if. every. word. is. not. part. of. a. sentence (a habit with news readers)

- using 'pre-book 'or 'pre-order' when 'book' and 'order' are sufficient, exact, and logical

- 'can I get' when one means 'I would like (to order / buy)...'

- 'oh really' - when one is not in the least bit interested in hearing what another has to say; totally incredulous

- 'look' - when answering a question, implying some impatience with a perceived inability to grasp a point 

- 'what was the name?' - when the person being addressed is clearly still alive and in the present

- 'at all' - as in 'do you have an address at all?' Why 'at all'? Close after 'address'

 

Posted on 24/11/2018 09:43 by SteveL

For sure.

A phrase beloved of international racing drivers, particularly Germanic ones. 

I am certainly not going to criticise though, their English is a lot better than my German.😉

 

’Newsreaders’, with idiosyncratic diction, headed by Robert Peston, The undecipherable. 

I'm sure he's laughing all the way to the bank.😂