With Faldage's post of "It's just *so last millennium" I recalled that a few weeks back on a now-dormant thread someone asked how everyone felt about the use of this new hip-speak...and I was curious to hear some input, but it seemed to get lost in another discussion. And now that thread is *so yesterday that I thought I'd present it for another perusal.

I used to hate *so when it when it first appeared, then I started to use it occasionally just to mock it, and now (horror of horrors) I catch myself actually using it sometimes. Now it doesn't really bother me, but. I guess I'm just *so 21st Century!

This use of so is pretty old. I am so tired of hearing people whine about it. The first glimmers of opposition came about when folks started using it in the negative, as in, "that is so not interesting," where, e.g., "that is so intersting" wouldn't raise the smallest cilli. I would suggest that what *really causes the objection to something like "that is so last millennium" would be the use of "last millennium" as an adjectival phrase.

Dear WO'N: it's so useful, it is very widely used. My dictionary seems to accept it:
2 a) to the degree expressed or understood; to such an extent !why are you so late?" b) to an unspecified but limited degree, amount, number, etc. !to go so far and no further" c) to a very high degree; very !they are so happy" d) [Colloq.] very much !she so wants to go"
3

Yes, "so" has always been around, but a lot of folks find
the new usage, like, *sooooo out there.


Perhaps the new nuance in usage has more to do with verbal inflection than the written word?