"So" in Americanah

I picked up a copy of Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie's latest book Americanah in Waterstones the other day. I haven't read it yet but if it's anything as good as her previous novel Half a Yellow Sun it will be a good read. Incidentally Half a Yellow Sun has been filmed and is soon to be released, so looking forward to that. Chiwetel Ejiofor, the guy from 12 Years a Slave, stars along with Thandie Newton so should be worth a few hours of your time. But I strongly recommend reading the book first.

Anyway I mention Americanah because as I was browsing through it I noticed this passage:

It was convincing, the accent she had perfected, from careful watching of friends and newscasters, the blurring of the t, the creamy roll of the r, the sentences starting with "So", and the sliding response of  "Oh really", but the accent creaked with consciousness, it was an act of will. It took an effort, the twisting of lip, the curling of tongue. If she were in a panic, or terrified, or jerked awake during a fire, she would not remember how to produce those American sounds. And so she decided to stop, on that summer day, the weekend of Dike's birthday.

I seem to recall from a few posts back pointing out how so many folk on the old BBC, especially Radio 4, were using the word "so" to begin their sentences, just as the narrator has picked up on the same habit in New York, having recently arrived their from Nigeria. So (as it were) we hold our American cousins responsible for it all. As for so much.

Meanwhile my cancer treatment continues to progress slowly but surely to it's conclusion. Next Wednesday will be my fourth (of six) chemo infusions, so the home straight coming into view. My diabetes is not yet under control but it's a whole lot better. I get increasingly more tired as time goes on. It's hard to believe that I could get more tired but seemingly I can. And I'm told to expect more of the same between now and end of May. Oh joy......