Dear All:
I’m trying to figure out whether my reactions to a
particular construction are based on my age (incipient geezerhood), or my
native dialect (Inland Southern). It involves use of comparative “so”
without an accompanying “that” clause, roughly equivalent to “very”:
A: “Thanks
so much”
B: “It
was so hot.”
I hear (A) very frequently, but I don’t remember hearing
it when I was younger. I also hear expressions like (B) from my students,
although not nearly as frequently as (A), which has become a set expression. I
can almost make (B) work in my own speech, but only with a lot of emphasis on
the “so” and an emphatic drop at the end of the sentence, but this
is not always how my students use it. Somehow, I can’t manage (A) at all –
any attempt and I can tell it’s coming out as sarcasm (“Oh, now my
leg’s broken. Thanks SO much.”).
I’ve checked the American Dialect Society listserv
archive, but I either used the wrong search terms, or there hasn’t been
much discussion of it. My attention was particularly drawn to it by a recent
political robocall (I live in Michigan) in which the candidate (who is older
than I am) not only used (A), but managed to sound natural while doing it.
Thanks!
Bill Spruiell
Dept. of English
Central Michigan University
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