Sir, – So what’s so new about the misuse/overuse of the word “so”? Hasn’t John Lennon been telling us “so this is Christmas” for years? – Yours, etc,
BERNARD FARRELL,
Greystones,
Co Wicklow.
Sir, – Raymond McGee (November 20th) is understandably irritated at the modern tendency to start all replies with the word "so". He further suggested that in school, his English teachers, Christian Brothers, forbade the construction. Among my memories of school English is Tennyson's Morte d'Arthur. It was in my textbooks in the 1980s and my fathers in the 1930s. He quoted in to me on his death bed, having learned it with the Christian brothers in Youghal. And its 200-plus lines begin, "So all day long the noise of battle rolled". So there! – Yours, etc,
BRIAN O’BRIEN,
Belgooly, Co Cork.
Sir, – The first word in Seamus Heaney's translation of Beowulf is "So". It is followed by a full stop. So, I guess the so-ers, whether under 40 or over 40, are in good company. – Yours, etc,
Dr JAMES FINNEGAN
Letterkenny, Co Donegal.
Sir, – So, it's surprising, so it is, that people who complain about language usage seldom take the trouble to look things up. I refer to the gripe about "so". The Oxford English Dictionary lists 40 different uses and well over 100 sub-uses for so. One of these is the use of so "as an introductory particle", and sometimes "without a preceding statement (but frequently implying one)". The good dictionary says this is "common in Shakespeare's plays". There are even a couple of illustrative quotes from our own Swift ("So you have got into Presto's lodgings; very fine, truly!", from the Journal to Stella, 1710) and RB Sheridan ("Well, – so, one of my nephews . . . is a wild young rogue", School for Scandal, 1780). This would seem to be a very old tic, so. – Yours etc,
KEVIN McCAFFERTY,
Nordåsgrenda,
Rådal,
Norway.
Sir, – I'll bet you didn't ever witness Jack Lynch, Harold Wilson or Sherlock Holmes starting a sentence with "so", "look" or "lookit". Why? Because they were pipe-smokers. They lit the pipe to give them "the few seconds to muster thoughts" referred to by Doireann Ní Bhriain (December 1st). However I wouldn't advise anybody to take up smoking; better stick with the crutch-words. – Yours, etc,
MATTIE LENNON,
Blessington,
Co Wicklow.