THERE you went and pushed my button by beginning a sentence with “so.” Why has that replaced the good and reliable “uh”?
I can't stand either of them. I literally make my students walk away and come back after they think about what they need to say.
I tell them that to me saying "uh" or "um" means that they care so little about the subject matter that they have not thought about it before hand.
But that is just me.