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SO, if I start doing this by accident just because we're being inundated with it, somebody please slap me! 

:)  We went through that with 'surreal'.  I got tired of hearing that word and then we had the bigger...everything was bigger until it went to 'ginormous' which I just refuse to use.  The one thatis currently bothering me is the

Dr. John Smith, MD  :0 

It's Dr. John Smith or John Smith, MD but NOT Dr. John Smith MD  :) 

Either it was a R-E-A-L-L-Y short trend or I'm just not as sensitive to it this week. I haven't noticed it all for several days now. Maybe it's because I haven't been listening to the same programs.

"So..." "Here's the thing..." "...my friend"

I'm tired of the above, including commentators who clear their throats or cough while on air and don't say "excuse me" afterwards or say "gonna."

I'm just sayin'...

Arrgh!

I can SOOO relate to all of these you both are mentioning. In fact, one of the things that irritates me most is someone who constantly calls me, "my friend" when (1) they aren't; (2) I just met them; (3) they are trying to sell me something.

Years ago I helped teach a course in public speaking; the other instructor introduced the use of "so" as an alternative to the even more hideous "umm" and "you know." In other words, it was intended to help shy people find a kind of emergency footing in situations where they might sound tongue-tied or worse. People were taught to use this and other "tricks" or techniques, for instance, holding your hands in front of you and squeezing your thumb really hard -- it's a way of screaming with fear while looking outwardly calm (I STILL use the thumb technique in tense situations).

But "so" was only ever meant to be tha--an emergency fallback! NOT an acceptable transitional phase, any more than "umm" or "like" or  "you know." UGH I really hate it!!

Of course, I'm an old fogey and find myself generally appalled by written and public sloppiness. I refuse to use "impact" as a verb, ditto "access," and I will never, ever, ever, say or write the word "utilize." Don't even get me started on the fact that schools are no longer going to teach cursive writing. Just don't.

On a related experience, I attended a week long instructor training course. I'll admit it was quite intense and probably one of the best courses I took, and that includes my college courses. One procedure we did involved video taping each student making his or her presentation while four classmates rated various actions made by the presentor. One classmate counted the "empty word count". Any "umm", "you know", "so" or other infraction. We all knew this was coming but when it was your turn to put on that professional presentation, some of the students could not bridle those words back. One had so many, the counter gave up. It takes HARD work to kill that habit, but it can be done. And no, I was neither the counter nor the presentor that time!