Intrusive "of"

[Alison Murie]

If ADS-L hadn't taught me to suppress my winces at a lot of
"substandard" speech, I think I'd be  wincing more often lately at the
intrusion of "of" into ADJ-NOUN expressions ("big of a thing,"  "dark
of a blue" &c.). Is this an attribute of a particular dialect........
which is taking over American speech? Jeanne Cummings on "Washington
Week"  the other night, used the expression, "the ground shifted
underneath of him."    "On top of," yes, but "underneath of
"?.......hmmm.
AM

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