So too many times

[aleCcowaN]

I can't get the exact nuance

so too many times --> tantísimas veces (?) [a lot of times indeed]
so too many times --> tantas, pero tantas veces (?) [like "an awful lot", intensified but involving a certain deal of amazement]

[poli]

This is not a very common usage and, in order to give you a difinite answer, more context is needed. Without context, I believe your second guess (tantas pero tantas) is closer. Too many usually implies damasiado.

[chileno]

To me:

So, too many times has been since/that... Así que, demasiadas veces han sido...

So many times = tantas/tantísimas veces.

Too many times = demasiadas veces.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

I can't get the exact nuance

I'm not surprised. As far as I can see, it isn't English at all. There are no hits on "so too many" in the BNC, so if it exists it is probably AmE slang.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you.

The context is, someone asked an Irish youth if he had sung Danny Boy before and he answered "I've sung it so too many times" with an intonation that conveyed sort of amazement and warm heart and nothing like "más veces de las necesarias", "más de la cuenta" or "más veces de las que puedo/quiero recordar" what would have been my first instinct and guess if I had read it instead of heard it.

[Perikles]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

The context is, someone asked an Irish youth if he had sung Danny Boy before and he answered "I've sung it so too many times"

Cross-posting with the above. If I'd known it was Irish....it is surprising how different their English is to English English. Sounds to me like a conflation of "so many times" and "too many times", so who knows what he means.

[poli]

I think more commonly you may hear:
all too many times

This is a poetic way of saying many many times.

It usually implies excessive amount of times, but in this context it does
not.

[aleCcowaN]

Thank you all.

Yes, come to think to it, it sounded like he was about to say "way too many times" or something like that, but he didn't want to mean it in an negative way, so he maybe changed the phrase at the very time of saying it and got sort of an anacoluthon.

What surprises me is that I'm lately asking mostly about phrases I heard that baffled me a bit, but they also happen to intrigue native speakers. That's new to me. Maybe English is becoming L2 to me, at last. Whatever it is, I have to thank you pals for all of your help.

[Peregrino]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

What surprises me is that I'm lately asking mostly about phrases I heard that baffled me a bit, but they also happen to intrigue native speakers. That's new to me. Maybe English is becoming L2 to me, at last. Whatever it is, I have to thank you pals for all of your help.

The posts (questions) of yours that I have seen have all included phrases that I would question as well, had I encountered them myself. So I would say that you have an *excellent* grasp of the language. If it looks strange enough that you have to ask, it is probably non-standard usage, American slang, or simply (as I believe this example to be ) a slip of the tongue.

[Rusty]

The phrasing that comes to mind is 'oh so many times'.

And, 'way too many times' may also work in some circumstances, but conveys the idea that the occurrences were excessive, as you mentioned.

[swr999]

"I've sung it so too many times" needs a little more context.

The "so" can take the meaning of "I've sung it thus too many times, or like that too many times, or that way too many times. Maybe something like "Así lo cantaba demasiado."

PS: No Spanish keyboard so accents are hard for me to include. Os pido perdón .

PPS: Ooops! Noobismo total here! I had not seen the 'Accents' pulldown menu in the advanced editing window.
Accents added.

[swr999]

Originally Posted by aleCcowaN

...The context is, someone asked an Irish youth if he had sung Danny Boy before and he answered "I've sung it so too many times" ...

Revisiting this, if we add a comma after the too, the sense may be clarified somewhat, and can be taken as "I've sung it that way also, many times."

o sea, Así la he contado yo también, y muchas veces. Not saying this is the original meaning, just that it's another possible English interpretation.

And finally, there is a current, hopefully transitory, slang use of the word 'so' you may hear used by mainly US 20-somethings and younger, in the following way:

"That's soooooo 2010" with heavy stress on the 'so', used when referring to something that was commonly done previously and which is now thought to be so out-of-date and unfashionable that it no longer merits any consideration.