Does "so far, so good" carry a negative connotation?

As a follow up to this etymology question, does "so far, so good" carry a negative connotation?

For example, after having her sonogram, my wife asked the technician if everything was okay. The technician replied, "so far, so good." My wife later remarked that she didn't like that the technician used the phrase because it sounded like things will be going wrong later.

I always thought this phrase was positive and that it was a replacement for the word "good."

The phrase means that everything went well until now, and you are not sure if things will carry on like this, or something bad will happen in the future, but it doesn't carry a negative connotation. It just means that so far everything is good, and you don't know what is going to happen next.

I think it indicates a cautious optimism.....the person doesn't want to imply that because things have gone fine so far that things will continue to go fine and that you can consider it all done, or it will be a slam-dunk....i.e. more barriers have to be overcome yet.

I'd say it was neutral rather than negative. It means something like Everything's OK so far. Let's hope it stays that way.

It literally means "good so far", but context is key here: if you'd normally expect an unreservedly positive response, then "so far, so good" can be interpreted negatively. For example, when I get in the elevator at lunchtime and ask a co-worker how it's going, the default polite response is "Fine". If they say "so far, so good", I can interpret that as "the storm hasn't hit yet, but there's the whole afternoon to go".

Another interpretation is "I'm not done yet, let me finish"...I would guess that is what the tech was probably trying to say to your wife in this case. And it was not a good way to say it, considering the circumstances.

I don't think "so far, so good" implies that something will go wrong later, not nearly as much as it implies it does that something can go wrong later.

I might use those words to describe the status of a major project that appears to be on-time, or a to report progress on a long trip that has been without incident.

As for applying it to a sonogram, I'll admit, maybe that's not the best choice of words. Then again, maybe the technician interpreted the question differently. By asking, "Is everything okay?" your wife may have meant, "Does the baby look healthy?" but the technician may have interpreted it as "Is all the equipment working fine?" or "Is the image clear?" or even "How has your day gone so far?" After all, after a technician has performed a dozen of these per day, week after week, month after month, he's probably encountered all sorts of technical problems.

As I said, maybe not the best choice of words, but I doubt very much that he intended to sound ominous.