I so want to write this

SO - such a small word yet it conveys a lot especially to the kids today. Words like quite, very, extremely and really are replaced by the single most powerful word ' SO '.

Sometime in 1996-97 I went to Calcutta to attend my friend's wedding. I was staying at my uncle's place who is a stickler for correct English among other things. He still types out emails like letters
Dear so-'n-so... Comma.... Next line... Maybe an indent... No unnecessary abbreviations... Proper capitalization... 2-3 paras ending with yours affly sorry affectionately... Anyway, my first lesson on 'SO' was from him. He asked how the wedding was. And I said with great enthusiasm, "it was so beautiful". He added, "that??". I said "huh!" He explained, "it was so beautiful that... . The word 'so' expects a part that starts with 'that'". Oh! And he was actually waiting for me to answer. I changed and said that it was very beautiful :-)

It was so awful!
It was so unfair!
Mom, you are so bad!

Now how do I tell these kids??

English is changing adapting and growing as a language. Googling is an acceptable word. Vedanta is accepted by Microsoft Word which brings up red squiggly marks for colour, authorise or metre. So I guess the use of 'so cool' only in informal talk would graduate to formal writing too.

There is actually a paper on this and a lot of noise on the Internet.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Metras nalla metras - 3

Hari participated in two competitions today and won 1st in Tamil and 2nd in Sanskrit recitation. Okay, I just can't stop peethifying about this to all and sundry - pandal pottu, serial set vechu, mikela thaan innum sollavillai :-) Now to the topic. Competitions are one more thing that I have missed during my stay away from Madras. Till I left college, every recitation and oratorical competition conducted in the city in sanskrit had me participating and almost always bagging a prize too. On one hand, I was relieved to know that I don't need to go thro' the tension of standing before a frowning judge. On the other hand, I feel the same tension because it was my son who had to stand before the judge. When I was standing outside I got a chance to observe the OE parents walking up and down the school premises, giving pep talks to their kids, last minute revisions and ofcourse the thayirsaadam dubbas :-) The parents seemed more worried than the kids. Just as how I was more exci...
Read more

Idiosyncrasy - 3

Milk Can Mania Placing a milk can in the refrigerator is quite tricky to master. Align the sides of the can with the sides of the refrigerator in such a way that the handle is to your right. Reason Getting the can out is easy when the handle is facing you. More cans fit in one shelf this way. Caution 1. Make sure you don't buy all groceries at the same time, else you will have a tough time stocking the refrigerator properly. 2. This is the most important part. Read carefully. Never push the milk can inside when your wife is supervising the procedure.
Read more

Eulogy for a Great Storyteller

This is one of the many titles that I would like to remember Thyagu thatha by. I was a late entrant into his stock of stories. My brothers were more fortunate to get a good measure of his imagination. My introduction to Mahabharata was not through Rajaji or Vyasa. It was through Thyagu thatha and straight away from where the Pandavas were living in the forest. I initially thought that his stories were like the megaserials of today running for a good many years. I was actually feeling bad that I did not have a chance to listen to Mahabharata from beginning. I would pester thatha to start from the beginning. He would just say, "chi chi! ingerdhu kelu" (listen from this point). "SHAKUNI'S NEXT PLAN". As far as I can remember there was never a "SHAKUNI'S FIRST PLAN". When the pandavas were living in the forest, Shakuni devises a variety of plans to destroy them while in the forest. He would change the tone of the story to suit the audience. With eyes l...
Read more