[throwaway183839]

It's painfully obvious to me that I have this linguistic quirk, because my fiancé (who is not a computer geek) interjects with "buttons!" every time I start a sentence with "So...".

This is annoying, but possibly not as annoying as listening to someone who starts half their sentences with the same word.

--

Thinking about it a little more, this habit is not specific to the computer / programming geek communities. I noticed others doing it around 2009-10, when I did almost no programming and didn't hang around with programmers. I mostly hung around with math and physics grad students. I suspect it is more generally a geek phenomenon, not specifically computer / programming geeks. Or possibly it's an even wider phenomenon than that - hard to say, since most of my friends are geeks of one sort or another.

It would be interesting to see if male and female geeks do it with similar frequencies. My guess would be that male geeks do it more often (based on the interpretation that starting a sentence with "So..." is a way of saying "I have given this topic serious thought" and the assumption that this is more likely something that a male geek will want to indicate than a female geek).

[rndn]

I know some non-geek Canadians who use this particle: "So, how was your day?". There are similar or even equivalent particles in other dialects and languages, for example "Also .." in German and "Look, .." in Australian English. However, in my experience, the purpose of that particle is to introduce a new topic or to indicate a context switch, rather than signaling that 'I've given the following serious thought'.

[octatoan]

It was painful to realise that you'd spent two years of German thinking "also" meant "also". :(

[mirimir]

Isn't that "So hey, how was your day?"?

;)

[taesis]

Almost entirely unrelated but another good/incredibly annoying interjection is to say '-tish' when hearing someone pause mid-sentence with 'but um'. It's an excellent way to lose friends and get socked on the nose.

[Luc]

> my fiancé (who is not a computer geek) interjects with "buttons!"

I was wondering where this expression, 'so buttons', comes from? I think I'm missing something and Google is not helping.

I thought it might be how you pronounce 'sew buttons' but isn't that supposed to be pronounced like 'Sue'?

[dima55]

sew

[Luc]

Ah, US pronunciation.

http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/sew

[drivers99]

I don't think either the UK or US version of sew sound like sue. Audio clips and IPA available at these links:

sew:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sew

UK /səʊ/ US /soʊ/

so:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/so

UK /səʊ/ US /soʊ/

sue:

http://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/british/sue

/suː/

"So" and "sew" are homophones in both UK and US English.

[Luc]

Thanks! So I've just been pronouncing it wrong the past 30 years. Eurotrash English :)

[anotherevan]

> my fiancé (who is not a computer geek) interjects with "buttons!"

Our standard, almost automatic response is, “A needle and thread.”

Also, when someone says, “Well…” the correct response is, “A hole in the ground.”

(Thus, “Well, well, well,” gets, “Three holes in the ground!”)

Gotta love English.

[joshuapants]

> my fiancé (who is not a computer geek) interjects with "buttons!" every time I start a sentence with "So...".

I do this, but with "a needle pulling thread."

[gambogi]

Why in the world would "male geeks" want to indicate they have given a topic serious thought any more often than "female geeks"?

[pshc]

I'm fond of the childhood "buttons on ice cream, see if they stick."