Not so great

Back in the day on this blog - 2013 to be more exact - we took note of a verbal tic that had been sweeping academia of starting the answer to every question with the word "so." See some excerpts from Harry Shearer's "Le Show" program back then on the blog at:

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-answer-any-question-with.html

and

https://uclafacultyassociation.blogspot.com/2013/04/how-to-answer-any-question-with.html

Happily, that tic seems to have faded away. (Maybe we acquired herd immunity to it.) But another habit seemed to take over soon after: Answering every question by starting with "That's a great question." Freakonomics radio picked up on this tendency back in 2015 and the piece was recently rebroadcast, suggesting this usage is still with us - again, particularly in academia:

or direct to https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AJpobK9iFBU.

Perhaps a bit of airing will send it to wherever "so" went.