the curious grammar of Ohio

[Laurence Horn]

At 6:43 AM -0700 10/29/04, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>Thanks for the cites, Larry.
>
>JL

Note, incidentally, that two of the OED's "positive anymore" cites
aren't; the 1903 one involves a negative polarity licenser, _only_
(cf. "I've only ever done it once") and the 1979 one does as well
(cf. "Everything I've ever done...").  These would both be possible
for me in my native, non-pos. anymore dialect.  The others, though,
do involve true "affirmative contexts".

LH

>
>Laurence Horn <laurence.horn at YALE.EDU> wrote:
>---------------------- Information from the mail header
>-----------------------
>Sender: American Dialect Society
>Poster: Laurence Horn
>Subject: Re: the curious grammar of Ohio
>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
>At 5:47 PM -0700 10/28/04, Jonathan Lighter wrote:
>>My DARE's not handy, there's a positive "anymore" in there from the
>>1920s. IIRC, I sent a slightly earlier cite to OED a year or so ago.
>>
>>Nothing in my undergraduate experience had prepared me for positive
>>"anymore" when I came to Tennessee in the '70s. Needless to say,
>>everybody seemed to be using it.
>>
>>I still don't use it myself, partly because I'm still unsure how to
>>screw it into a sentence.
>>
>>It took a few years to figure out how to use "might could," but
>>positive "anymore" is a far greater challenge.
>>
>>JL
>>
>Here's the new (2002) OED draft entry under "any more", replacing the
>old (1st and 2d edition) entry at "more" (ADV. C4a). Definitely
>Ulster., and as you see my memory of the positive anymores of Madison
>is buttressed. And it's nice that the Lawrence cite is preserved.
>
>Larry
>
>1b. Chiefly Irish English and N. Amer. colloq. In affirmative
>contexts: now, nowadays, at the present time; from now on.
>
>1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. I. 63/1 [Northern Ireland] A servant being
>instructed how to act, will answer 'I will do it any more'.
>1903 McClure's Mag. Dec. 215/1 There's just only this one any more.
>1920 D. H. LAWRENCE Women in Love xiii. 167 'Quite absurd,' he said.
>'Suffering bores me, any more.'
>1938 J. STUART Beyond Dark Hills x. 319 You know, Jesse, any more I
>don't worry a great lot.
>1961 T. MURPHY Whistle in Dark in Plays (1989) IV. II. 47 We'll
>squeeze Michael a bit. He'll chip in anymore.
>1973 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 14 Mar. 2/1 Any more, the
>difference between a white collar worker and a blue collar worker is
>simply a matter of shirt preference.
>1979 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 20 Nov. 1/3 Everything we do
>anymore seems to have to be done in a big hurry.
>1996 C. I MACAFEE Conc. Ulster Dict. 7/1, I think it'll be fine any more.
>
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