the curious grammar of Ohio

[Peter A. McGraw]

California?  Wow!

There was a discussion of positive "anymore" on this list a long time ago,
but actually I wonder if that terminology captures what's distinctive about
the usage.  I think I picked up positive "anymore" in college in Ohio.
I've used it comfortably ever since, and I don't feel particularly
outlandish using it here in the Northwest.  What I never picked up, and
what still sounds regional to me, is sentence-initial "anymore," whether
positive or negative.   Neither "Anymore, I always use positive 'anymore,'"
nor "Anymore, I never use positive 'anymore'" seems natural to me, but I
think both would be natural to speakers in the "homeland" of this usage.

Peter

--On Wednesday, October 27, 2004 5:04 PM -0400 Beverly Flanigan
<flanigan at OHIOU.EDU> wrote:

> Good one!  I have yet to see positive "anymore" in fiction (it's not
> Appalachian but is common in Midland Ohio and westward, all the way to
> California now, I believe), but if the novel is really set in Ohio, I may
> see it.  Two of my OU colleagues use it frequently.
>
> At 04:35 PM 10/27/2004, you wrote:
>> Anymore, I often wonder about that curious Ohio grammar, too.
>>
>> Peter Mc.



*****************************************************************
Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************