I've noticed over the past year, more speakers are using the word 'so' to preface their answer, rather than the usual 'well' or even 'uh.' Where did this originate, and why is it happening?
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1It’s definitely not something that’s just been increasing in the past year. It’s been very common for several decades. Probably not going to be easy to get any statistics on this non-meaningful use of so, though, separated from its more traditional use. – Janus Bahs Jacquet Oct 31 '16 at 19:17
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4Possible duplicate of Sentences beginning with "so"? and When did the word 'so' begin to be used to start a sentence?. – Edwin Ashworth Oct 31 '16 at 19:23
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Starting a sentence with "so" has been around for many decades. The following Ngram search on "so anyway" and "So anyway" will give you some idea:
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I think you'll find the well-known "so anyway" is very different from the new "so" that John quite rightly says seems have appeared spontaneously in the last or… some…, in my experience first through BBC Radio 4.
"So anyway" is a well established tactic with two common uses, both different from newbie "so…"
"So anyway" either drags a conversation back to another subject, or ends a pause - often a potentially embarrassing pause - by introducing a fresh subject apropos of nothing in particular.
– Robbie Goodwin Nov 15 '16 at 13:54