Though it may seem like an exercise in tedium, it is important that from the very onset something be said about the significance or insignificance of small words and conjunctions. This is fundamental because in the very word So we have both a small word and a conjunction. Those facts, those pieces of identity, those properties, those characteristics that are the very foundations of So? are important not entirely in defining its very meaning but more in understanding its quiet and humble beginning, which is only now a simple part of its meaning.

In short, it’s a place to start. A Genesis. A manger birth. Or Matthew 1: 1-17.

There are few words shorter than So. I can think of only I and a. An argument could be made that, as a stand-alone, a has no meaning at all. Only when paired with another word will a indicate that word as one, singular or of a certain category.

And I, well it only has the one self-reflexive, egotistic meaning, doesn’t it?

Though So is as short as it is, and often accused of having limited meaning, we will see in due time and through revelation its dynamic qualities.

People of a certain age might recall with a certain fondness that brilliantly entertaining, effectively educational, dare I say edutaining body of informative musical cartoons titled School House Rock.

Arguably, one of the most memorable episodes, (and from what I know the only to be given homage by Snoop Dogg in one of his songs, Hydroponic), was titled Conjunction Junction.

When the question is sung in call-and-response style by the female chorus, “Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?”

The answer from the animated train conductor comes, “Hooking up words and phrases and clauses.”

Though So itself is left out from the song for favor of and and now and but, the definition covers our beloved conjunction too. It is a word first drawn for the sole purpose of bringing other words together. In almost all circumstances it has no place on its own. It is designed only to be used in relation to other words or clauses or to ‘coordinate words in the same clause,’ as one definition would have it.

“Do your homework now so you can play outside later.”

The temptation is to believe that like a, So is useless on its own, that it must only serve its function as a conjunction hooking up word and phrases and clauses.

But then recount from your own uses of the word, the multiple times you’ve thought it or declared on its own. You might even be thinking it now, reading this. So?

Though it cannot be denied the work it does to bring words and clauses together, this little conjunction is brave enough and has the power to create meaning standing all alone.

Not just one meaning, but three.

A Trinity.