meaning of there is so a tooth fairy

[lost_soul]

Hi,
Could you help me understand the meaning of this phrase in bold

[Alan]

Hi LS,

We are now entering the world of children's fantasy where adults tell a story to children, which is imaginary. The fantasy is that when a child loses a tooth, he puts the tooth under his pillow and during the night the 'fairy' removes the tooth and replaces it with a present. In my day for my children we would take the tooth away and replace it with money. What a wonderful world it was then!

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Head expressions for you

[lost_soul]

Hi, Alan

Thank you for your explanation !

But I'm troubled by so in that phrase. What does so suggest? What does it add to the meaning?

Can't we say simpler: there is a tooth fairy, without so?

If you could answer that question..
Thanks !
_________________
Alex

A native speaker of Russian

[Alan]

Hi,

'So' here is a bit unusual but maybe it's a small child speaking. I would suggest that the 'so' here means to me: 'then' or 'in that case'

Alan
_________________
English as a Foreign Language
You can read my EFL story Too Many Words

[lost_soul]

Hi, Alan

Yeah, You're right, that phrase was uttered by an 8-year-old youngster.

Thanks again!
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Alex

A native speaker of Russian

[Tom]

[Alan]

Hi Tom,

I'll come clean - it's not the world's best English! I was going to start talking about when I was a child and then I switched to talking about the time when I was the father of young children. So, an improvement would be: In my time as the father of young children ...

I should have been more careful.

Alan
_________________
English as a Second Language
You can read my ESL story Reflections