So I’m abundantly enamored with the word so.
Chandler Bing is largely responsible for my overuse of the word. Yes, Matthew Perry’s character on Friends. He was often using the word and placing emphasis on it in the middle of a sentence. As in, “You are so not wearing that jacket again today.” Or, “You are so driving me to that appointment.”
Of course, that wasn’t the only influence that Chandler had on our dialect in the 90s. He was having a heyday with flipping the emphasis around on his words, so sentences would come out, “Could you be more ridiculous?” And “Did I say I liked it?” I’ll find myself throwing that power onto the third or fourth word into my sentences too sometimes, and I know I have Matthew Perry to thank for it.
So back to the word so.
You know what that little word does. So much power in two little letters.
Just imagine you’re a little kid of about five or six years old. You’ve snuck into the kitchen and opened the freezer to find that wonderful mint chocolate chip ice cream that you saw your mom put in there yesterday afternoon. You pull it out and put it on the counter, then reach into the silverware drawer to get a spoon. You’ve just lifted off the top of the ice cream carton and are just about to dip into the creamy lusciousness, when you hear your mother’s footsteps enter the room. And your mother says, “So.”
Later that day, you’ve gotten into an argument with your best friend about whether you’re really getting a new bike for your birthday. Childhood arguments inevitably degenerate at some point into “Are not.” “Am too.” Are not.” “Am too.” “No, you are not.” “Yes, I am so.”
You’re in a busy restaurant. Everyone is bustling about and a low hum fills the air as people talk and clank forks and knives against plates. Waiters and hosts move about as people are served and led to and from tables and the business of eating carries on. Suddenly a hush falls over the room. Someone special has arrived. Heads turn and whispers share the news of the celebrity presence. Well, you know who it is. It’s that big important so-and-so.
Now that I have a son, Christmas morning is a special delight. On Christmas Eve, my husband and I spend time putting out all of the presents that we have gathered for our family and packages that have been carefully and beautifully wrapped. I want that moment when our son walks in on Christmas morning to be perfect. So before I go to bed, I look back at everything and make sure that everything is arranged just so.
You just went to a concert at the park. Was it great? Was it bad? Well, it was so-so.
And so on.
Just a little two-letter word. But it’s so ubiquitous. It’s so versatile, so meaningful, so applicable in so many situations.
So what? So there.
