So…

Three posts in one day – if I post four I could make a Crowded House reference. Although posts and seasons aren’t really interchangeable.

Anyway – the purpose of this post is to point out a problem I have with the word so. Dictionary.com lists an obscene number of meanings and contexts in which such a small, simple word can be used. It’s just confusing. So confusing in fact that’s I’ve had enough so I’m going to do something about it.

I imagine our predecessors were faced with a similar problem with the word to. It has a lot of meanings too. One of those is demonstrated in the previous sentence. My theory is someone clever realised you could get around the confusion by just adding an extra o on the end of to to create a whole new word. I aim to be clever too. One day people will look back and say putting that extra o on so made everything soo much clearer. So here goes.

From now on when so is used to indicated an increase (ie so much) I think it should be spelt soo. So to sum up. When so is being used as a conjunctive (I can’t believe I’m talking about grammar – this is the guy who sidestepped his father’s war on commas by an obsessive overuse of the -. I use so many -‘s now that the last time he edited some of my work he put commas back in) it remains the standard so. When it is used in its adjectival form soo much or soo cool it will now be soo.

Hopefully this will prove to be more popular than the word col (a more refined type of cool – which lasted for a couple of months before fading into the word graveyard – only to be resurrected on my blog many long years later).

May 15, 2006

In Uncategorized

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Comments

mip says:

hmm… I guess that be there for long.

Was greeted by the header.

So…
No comments yet.

And thought it quite apt.

mip says:

You could have a post for all seasons, or add some seasoning to all your posts.

andrew says:

me thinks someone has soo much time on his hands that he needs to get a second hobby.

u know who says:

So….ey Nathan wots been happening…

Nathan says:

not much… but that’s pretty SOLID

miriam says:

I think you all need to refer to the comment posted by ‘louise’ under the blog with the dog title that nath posted. hilarious!

The Grammar Nazi says:

This is actually the second time you’ve talked about grammar.
Teenage girls have been using the word “soo” for ages. Ages and ages.
“Have you seen the trailer for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 yet? Johnny Depp is soo cute!!!!”
Actually, teenage girls have also been known to use “sooo” and even “soooo”, if the occasion truly calls for it…

Scott says:

Do you think your father would join my war against today’s appalling standards of linguistics?

Email and Instant-Messaging lingo is offensive to all but the lazy, apathetic masses who use it; and society’s use of the apostrophe quite frankly makes my flesh creep.

In my opinion, it’s only a matter of time before the entirety of mankind ends up living in a single, crowded tree; flinging our dung at one another and wondering what happened to aesthetics.

I hope you enjoyed meeting one of my pet hates.

The Grammar Nazi says:

Bwahahahahahah. Have you read Eats, Shoots and Leaves?
Bwahahahahahahah.

Nathan says:

I completely agree Scott. I refuse to subscribe to the bastardisation of the English language that is txt talk. People who are too lazy to correctly punctuate or include vowels in their writing don’t deserve to be read.

agh says:

I particularly like The Goodguys’ use of:

DVD’s
TV’s
VIDEO’s

Anonymous says:

thr s nthng wrong wth hvng no vwls vryne knws wht u mn nywy.

tim says:

I agree Soo has been a domain of teenage girls and a certain former housemate of mine. Are you SERIOUS.. on a funnier note check this out. A cab driver was grabbed in place of a computer expert to give a ‘expert opinion’on the Apple court case. watch his eyes as he realises. http://ninemsn.video.msn.com/v/en-au/v.htm?f=39&g=bab0e276-6fe0-4454-ac6b-950ce3fb5966&p=aunews_aunationalninenews&t=s29

Nathan says:

that’s fitting because all IT grads end up driving cabs anyway… Except the five of them I know who have jobs in IT

maddie says:

Soooo..like u know whatever.
As if you made up “soo.” I have to agree…teenage girls have used this since the beggining of time. Also common: Noo (i really dont want to do it) and doo (do i have to?!) and Goo (i dont want to goo. Lets hurry up and goo) So there you have it! The extened “o” versions of “_o” words!

Cat in the hat says:

Three blogs??? What is going on? I simply cannot believe how much you write on here Nathan… ridiculous

mip says:

I hope I’m not included in that… I haven’t graduated from anything yet.

Nathan says:

No Mark, you weren’t included – it seems you don’t even need an IT degree to work in IT

Anonymous says:

Did you konw taht so lnog as the frsit and lsat ltetres of the wrod are in the crreoct sopt, you can raed wrdos in eglsnih no mtater waht oderr the rmnaenig ltretes are in.

The Grammar Nazi says:

Oh yeah?
Unscramble this.

Oottlrhingoy.

Nathan says:

You’ve got 1 too many t’s for ornithology. I suggest you’re off with the pixies rather than the birds.

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