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'SO' the adjective...

  • 06-02-2011 11:23am
    #1
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭


    I'm wondering when and where this started coming into play. "I'm SO over it" "He's SO not into you." "You SO dont get it."

    I always remember it as a product of friends speak of the 1990s and never before then.

    But I was watching an episode of Mad Men when one of the characters says "I'm SO over 1960."

    Has this been around a lot longer than I remember?


Comments

  • #2
    line6
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 163 ✭✭line6


    It has so


  • #3
    nompere
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,678 ✭✭✭nompere


    Am I the only one who thinks that "so" as used in those examples is an adverb? It is modifying a verb. Adjectives modify nouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.


  • #4
    metrovelvet
    Closed Accounts Posts: 9,376 ✭✭✭metrovelvet


    nompere wrote: »
    Am I the only one who thinks that "so" as used in those examples is an adverb? It is modifying a verb. Adjectives modify nouns. Adverbs modify verbs, adjectives and other adverbs.

    No, you are right, and I only realised my mistake a second after I posted the thread, but I cant edit it. Sorry. It is an adverb.


  • #5
    DavyD_83
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 1,992 ✭✭✭DavyD_83


    I'm pretty sure Mad Men was made after friends :)


  • #6
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,737 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    The usage in question is 'so (adverb) + verb' as opposed to the normal 'so (adverb) + adjective', right?

    The latter construction has existed as long as I've been alive but in a alightly different context (and it's possibly a feature of Hiberno-English) as a positive reinforcement in response to an expression of doubt/disbelief. E.g.

    "I'm going to the circus."
    "You are not!"
    "I am so going to the circus!"

    I don't think it's possible to contract the verb (i.e. I'm) in this case.


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  • #7
    looksee
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 29,095 ✭✭✭✭looksee


    So what part of speech is 'like' in, for example, "I was so, like, 'she didn't!"


    :D


  • #8
    pickarooney
    Moderators, Arts Moderators Posts: 35,737 Mod ✭✭✭✭pickarooney


    A filler, or hedge word.


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