So...

I think you are right, Willsmadnan, using 'So...' at the beginning of every reply is a way of avoiding a 'Yes/no'.
Other pet hates for me at the moment:

'journey': if we have had some sort of experience it has been a 'journey'; frequently 'an awesome journey'.

'showcase': we can't show anything. We have to 'showcase'.

'narrative': suddenly this crops up everywhere

'myself': we seem to be afraid of 'me'. I believe people think they sound more clever if they complicate a sentence.

'no worries': not quite sure what the answer to that is.

End of moan.

I'm also extremely annoyed with 'So.... starting every reply to a question. I have a theory that politicians, CEOs, spokespersons etc. are coached by professionals to never begin the answer to a question with 'Yes', or 'No', as this compromises/commits them. It's still flippin' annoying however.

For free. It's free. Just free.

I'm all for regional accents and dialects, but where does ashume and conshume come from? Is it an accent? No one says ashumption or conshumption.

So - like, do you know what I mean and even more irritating, pronouncing the word create as crate. Drives me dotty. Enunciate clearly and stop rambling I find myself saying politely , to the radio.

I'm tiring very quickly of people who begin a radio interview with "Hello,how are you,thanks for having me". Just get on with it! That's before the "so".

For me it's "like".

Listening to 2 very articulate young girls, talking about debating societies on Radio 4's Listening Project, there were still more "likes" than there should have been!

Another one is "can I get". Last Saturday in the pub, someone came in and said "can I get a pint of Guinness, a half of cider and a diet coke?"

Made me think of a previous landlord, who when presented with that question, would always respond, "No you can't, that's my job"

What about sportsmen/women who start a sentence with 'I mean'

I also want the word 'robust' removed from the dictionary.

Or with 'Look' - sounds so patronising.

Or Basically........

So at the end of the day going forward we can look back in retrospect - and so on. All very irritating.

Or politicians who always start a reply with 'Listen......'