It seems like, at the beginning of every answer

[Toto'sDad]

And the vocal inflection at the end of every sentence that makes it sound like a question i it isn't. I have pretty much quit listening to NPR altogether because of it.

Actually, pretty much everyone in Alabama talks like that??? You'll already know how to speak the language if you ever go there???

 

[BigDaddyLH]

The only thing I ever listened to on NPR was the car guys on the weekend.

I can pick up NPR when I'm driving up to the local ski hill.

 

[SuprHtr]

All of the above annoyances raise my blood pressure. I must learn to relax. People who work in media used to use proper grammar and inflection. Don't get me started on the misuse of the word "comprised". It is not the same as the word "composed" but people think they sound smarter when they misuse it.

 

[fjblair]

As long as I've been alive. I'm 61.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

"an historic" --- an? An? AN?

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

to a question asked during an interview on NPR, the interviewee starts his or her response with....'So'...blah blah blah.

Yes. Or "Yeah, so" or "Right, so" or "Yeah, no, so."

Where did this 'So' stuff come from?

Nobody knows.

(Place standard grumpy geezer image here)....

Here's my SGG NPR three-strikes rule: When one person — host, reporter, or interviewee — says or does any three of the following, I turn the radio off for at least five minutes. If the same person is still on when I come back, I turn it off for another five minutes, and so on, until the person is gone. Some shows don't make it past the opening segment.*

Here are the offenses, each worth one strike unless otherwise noted:

1. Starting an answer with "So," Yeah, so," "Right, so, or "Yeah, no, so." So could have been folded into offense #2, but as you've so rightly noted, it deserves to go to the head of the class — leader of the pack.

2. Using any of these other words or phrases:

- accountable (when they mean responsible, as in "The mayor is accountable for the bridge collapse.")
- At the end of the day (They caught this one from BBC. They should throw it back.)
- conditionality (Okay, I've only heard that once, but it's bound to catch on.)
- going forward (What's the difference between "Our plan is" and "Our plan going forward is"? Nuthin'!)
- I mean (unless clarifying a previous statement)
- I'm like/he's like/she's like (I'm like, I don't like.)
- impact (when they mean effect or affect)
- impactful (Gimme a break.)
- indigenous people (when they mean natives or tribal members or first people — a prime example of syllable inflation)
- issue (when they mean problem, as in "I have an issue with that.")
- interrogate (as in: "We feel compelled to interrogate the assumptions embedded in this narrative.")
- kind of (when used to give plausible deniability for a simple declarative that doesn't need it)
- like (except to mean enjoy or similar to)
- marginalized (when they mean poor — more syllable inflation)
- moving forward - (See going forward.)
- multiple (Syllable inflation. Is there a difference between fires and multiple fires? No. Try some, many, several — or better yet, no adjective at all.)
- narrative (unless referring to a work of fiction)
- No, yeah (Are you sure?)
- Perfect! (They picked this one up from restaurant waitstaff. Yes, words are contagious. In other threads, see you guys, you guys's, I'll be taking care of you, and Did you leave room for dessert?)
- peoples (a usually unnecessary double plural)
- preventative (when they mean preventive)
- resources (when they mean money)
- Right? (the most ubiquitous, egregious, and irritating example of offense #3, therefore earning two strikes)
- sort of (See kind of.)
- take-away (unless it's a Brit referring to take-out food)
- under-resourced (See impactful.)
- unpack (unless referring to luggage)
- weaponize
- Yeah (except to answer to a yes/no question)
- Yeah, no (See No, yeah.)
- you know (when surrounded by, you know, commas)

3. Upspeak: The way some people talk? When it sounds like a question? But isn't?

-----------------

* Hidden Brain is like a Nicholas Cage movie: gone in sixty seconds.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

Actually, pretty much everyone in Alabama talks like that??? You'll already know how to speak the language if you ever go there???

It might come from Ohio. Folks did it all the time in Cincinnati in the fifties when I was I kid.

And syllable inflation. Never say "I'm from Cincinnati" if you think people will sit still for, "I'm from the Greater Cincinnati* metropolitan vicinity?" Or even if you don't.

-------------

* Pronounced sin-suh-NAH-duh.

 

[David Barnett]

So, the "so" thing isn't just an annoying mannerism, they're doing it on purpose. They think it makes them sound "authoratative". It comes from Silicon Valley.

It's so annoying

So why do people feel compelled to start every sentence with ‘so’? We live in the Age of So. Dot Wordsworth commented on it in these pages recently, though was lost for an explanation. The phenomenon was illustrated on Radio 5 Live’s Drive programme a while back, when Peter Allen interviewed...

www.spectator.co.uk

So Here's Why Everyone Is Starting Sentences With The Word 'So'

"So" isn't just a conjunction anymore.

www.businessinsider.com

I think we've already passed Peak So, and it's starting to slowly fade away.

 

[maxvintage]

they play cool music. but that doesn't mean you have to hang around for indoctrination.

Unless cool music IS indoctrination.

 

[BigDaddyLH]

Unless cool music IS indoctrination.

 

[hardheaded]

Unless cool music IS indoctrination.

Only if you care about the lyrics.

 

[Hodgo88]

How do any of you people travel without losing your absolute heads over the idea that people can sound different

And yet nobody has posted in Middle English

 

[Refugee]

Don't think this one has been mentioned, and it is somewhat newer is, "I know, right?" Usually female, but not always.