Dick,
This is by no means the first
time that what I thought was an odd usage turned out to be the norm, or vice
versa (“What do you mean ‘might should’ sounds funny?”). I wonder whether I
can blame this one on dialect, or whether (instead) I’ve fallen into the old grammar
pedant’s trap of trying to foist my idiolect on the universe.
Thanks, er, muchly,
Bill Spruiell
From: Assembly for the
Teaching of English Grammar [mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Veit,
Richard
Sent: Tuesday, January 22, 2008 4:29 PM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Unresolved comparative "so"
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. Clearly, it’s not a new
expression.
Dick Veit
________________________________
Richard
Veit
Department of English
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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