‘I'm so ditching school to babysit.’

Abstract

This paper focuses on the use of preverbal so in present-day English. While its use as an intensifier (meaning ‘so much’ or ‘very much’) has been attested already in Early Modern English (OED online, s.v. so, adv. and conj., sense 15), it has only recently acquired emphatic meaning (‘truly’ or ‘definitely’, see OED online, s.v. so, adv. and conj., 2005 Draft Additions). Compare: (1) I do so love weddings. They're such joy. (SOAP YR 2005) (2) I'm so ditching school to babysit. (SOAP AMC 2007) In (1), so can be paraphrased with ‘very much’ or ‘so much’ (I do love weddings very/so much), because it modifies scalar love, indicating degree (viz. you can love weddings above anything else/ a lot/ a little/ not at all, etc.). This paraphrase does not work for (2), however: in this case, so modifies non-scalar ditch, meaning that a degree reading is not accessible (either you ditch school at a given time or not). So in Example (2) does not convey intensity but expresses the speaker's certainty that they are going to ditch school in order to babysit: I'm so ditching school to babysit – ‘I am definitely ditching school to babysit’.