Starting a thread with 'so'

bhavv said:
So its a sign of modernization to grammatical and vocabulary skills.

And it shows us that old school grammar laws were indeed very incorrect.

People who say that you cant start sentences with So or And are retards.
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I think it's far more likely that you don't understand the grammar involved.
 
Vonhelmet said:
I think it's far more likely that you don't understand the grammar involved.
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Can we start a sentence with a conjunction?

"You must not start a sentence with a conjunction" has been the mantra of many an exasperated English teacher, especially since the oiks started getting state education. Any pupil brave, daft or naive enough to raise a hand and ask "Why?" would probably have received some Kafkaesque explanation along the lines of "Because it is said."

So now we're all grown up, we'll ask again – why? The honest answer is that there is no reason. It's just an arbitrary rule that's been passed through the ages. But all language is arbitrary, isn't it? Words and letters are but abstract concepts, the understanding of which can only come through the education of rules.
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No one cares about this rule, even professional writers and authors tend to ignore it nowadays.

You definitely can start a sentence with a conjunction, it doesnt make the sentence illegible in anyway, and in a lot of cases it makes sense to do so.
 
Vonhelmet said:
It's incredibly annoying to have a thread title that gives no indication of the contents, no matter what random drivel people put in the title.
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If I had the power this would be bannable. But thats just me.

Either make a title that describes the content or don't make new threads.
 
It's fine to start a sentence with a conjunction, so long as you are actually using it as a conjunction.

Putting "So..." in the thread title and then "How about them Yankees?" in the post is not using "so" as a conjunction because it is not conjoining two ideas.
 
bhavv said:
No one cares about this rule.
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I don't think that the quote you supplied actually supports your argument

It's just an arbitrary rule that's been passed through the ages. But all language is arbitrary, isn't it? Words and letters are but abstract concepts, the understanding of which can only come through the education of rules.
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Which seems to suggest that while arbitrary, the rules are necessary to maintain understanding.
 
In its place there's little wrong with using "So" to start a post, the continuity implied can occasionally be useful but when it's used incorrectly (and it often is) then it's somewhat irritating. However there are lots of other examples of incorrectly used language that are much more irritating and common.
 
Almost guaranteed Reddit front page title material:

"So, Reddit, here's a picture of my cat. MIND = BLOWN Q_Q"

"So" makes it sound like the frat kids that make up the majority of their users.
"Reddit" makes it sound more "personal" to them.
"Cat". Self-explanatory.
"MIND = BLOWN" - guaranteed to get attention.
"Q_Q" - stupid popular face will "stand out".
 
Starting a song:

So this is Christmas
And what have you done
Another year over
And a new one just begun
Ans so this is Christmas
I hope you have fun
The near and the dear one
The old and the young

..............
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John Lennon and Yoko Ono
 
So!, so what, I'm still a rock star
I got my rock moves and I don't need you
And guess what, I'm havin' more fun
And now that we're done I'm gonna show you tonight
 
So what? is a legitimate retort. The first clause is implied, being the other person's statement that you're responding to. The "what" is the second clause.

I'll get back to you on "So this is Christmas".
 
I've noticed people doing this in conversation as well, they start everything they say with "so", completely out of context. it really is quite annoying.
 
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