Bill:

 

I Googled "thanks so much" in parentheses and got 17 million hits. Then
I added 1950 (randomly chosen date) and looked at some newspaper
archives where the phrase appeared. Here is one example from an Iowa
newspaper in 1950
<http://www.newspaperarchive.com/LandingPage.aspx?type=glp&search=%e2%80
%9cthanks%20so%20much%e2%80%9d%201950&img=1726695> . Clearly, it's not a
new expression.

 

Dick Veit

________________________________

Richard Veit
Department of English
University of North Carolina Wilmington

________________________________

From: Assembly for the Teaching of English Grammar
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Spruiell, William C
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 3:39 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Unresolved comparative "so"

 

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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