[Ads-l] Facebookery: positive _anymore_

[Laurence Horn]

I’d say it’s viewed pretty negatively.  Thanks!


> On Aug 4, 2018, at 12:12 AM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
> 
>> Do you happen to know if the full context indicates that “it”, whatever
> it was, is being          > viewed negatively?
> 
> I don't often have the context. But, when I do, it's the full one😜:
> 
> This was an exceedingly unfortunate episode. In March, 2017, the young man
> whose story is described was experiencing a mental crisis. His family made
> the mistake of calling the police to help control him. When police arrived,
> the officers tased him. But when he got up and charged them, this time they
> fired off 16 rounds, hitting him 14 times. It seems to be a fairly common
> occurrence _anymore_, families calling the police for help with their
> loved ones,
> and then seeing their family members gunned down right in front of their
> eyes.
> 
> On Fri, Aug 3, 2018 at 9:37 PM Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at yale.edu> wrote:
> 
>>> On Aug 3, 2018, at 9:13 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at GMAIL.COM> wrote:
>>> 
>>> "It seems to be a fairly common occurrence _anymore_.”
>> 
>> Yup, that one is definitely a positive “anymore” (with “common”, as
>> opposed to "rare”).  The example is interesting for the geography; South
>> Florida is by no means in the heart of positive “anymore” country, although
>> the construction has been spreading somewhat.    Do you happen to know if
>> the full context indicates that “it”, whatever it was, is being viewed
>> negatively?  That would favor the “anymore" for many speakers.  So, for
>> example, “Wild Alaskan salmon is really expensive anymore” might be more
>> likely than “Wild Alaskan salmon is really popular anymore”.  (I assume
>> both sentences are fine for all speakers with “nowadays” in place of
>> “anymore” and with the same intended meaning.)
>>> 
>>> Writer is from and still lives in South Florida, where he's a lawyer.
>>> 
>>> BTW, FWIW, here in NEPA, the same people who use positive also use
>>> negative. I'd kinda wondered about that.
>> 
>> As far as I know, speakers who accept/use positive “anymore” also use it
>> in negative contexts.
>> 
>> LH
>>> 
>>> "That's not going to happen, anymore!"
>>> --
>>> -Wilson
>>> -----
>>> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
>>> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
>>> -Mark Twain
>>> 
>>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>> 
> 
> 
> -- 
> -Wilson
> -----
> All say, "How hard it is that we have to die!"---a strange complaint to
> come from the mouths of people who have had to live.
> -Mark Twain
> 
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org