Korean Job Discussion Forums

[oldfatfarang]

I was teaching today:

It's VERY hot, isn't it?
It's TOO cold, isn't it?
It's REALLY dry, isn't it?

I told 2 co-teachers that it's not good form to say: It's SO hot ... It's SO cold... It's SO dry ....

Is that correct. I hear SO used this way (to replace very, too, really) all over Asia. Is this incorrect usuage, slang - or a version of USA English?

Any help appreciated.

[peppermint]

you'll hear "it's so hot/cold/wet etc" sometimes in North America. I think the trouble is that Korean students learn one form and use it all the time, everytime until it sounds strange

[kat2]

It's common american language. The problem is that Koreans dont' understand the difference between the meaning:

It's very hot. (self-explanatory)
It's so hot. (more hot than would normally be expected, out of the ordinary, maybe a surprise)
It's really hot. (same as very, just more informal, and maybe a bit stronger.
It's too hot. (It's hot enough that it prevents you from being able to do something-- it's too hot to play basketball b/c I wouldn't have fun/would die of heat exhaustion/would mess up my makeup/etc)

The problem is that Koreans seem to translate "so..." and "too..." as the same thing-- It's "nomu" cold/hot (sorry, don't know how it's spelled)

[oldfatfarang]

[CentralCali]

No, it should be, "[...] every time until it sounds so strange."

[iiicalypso]

My grammar skills are horrible, but my usage is good, so I apologize if my terminology is wrong.

I have this problem as well, and I have tried to explain it to my coteachers. What I always tell them is that you can use "so" only if there is an explanatory clause following. For example:

"It is so hot that my clothes are soaked with sweat."

I told them to use "too" when they want to explain that something has gone beyond an acceptable limit:

A: "Why aren't you outside today?"
B: "It is too hot."

When they want to express an opinion about the degree of something, without having a limit on acceptability, they should use "very":

"It is very hot today. I think I will wear a short sleeved shirt."

I know that these are absolutist answers, and that native speakers use these words in different ways, but in almost every case I have heard, the nuance is just too great for the speaker to understand the difference. I think it is better to just understand the general idea of when to use each, and if they ever reach a point where they have spent enough time in an English speaking environment that these subtle points make a difference, they will figure it out naturally.[/b]

[bacasper]

[faster]

[jinks]

Native speakers will usually use so in the phrases
so rude
so wierd
so funny
so stupid
as another poster pointed out, when you use so with other adjectives (instead of very) you usually follow it with an explanatory clause.

[oldfatfarang]

Thanks for all the info. I've finally got around to putting this in my much thumbed grammar book.