"As Well."

[Jonathan Lighter]

OED has positive, clause-final "as well" from 1303.

It's the _negative_ clause-final "as well" that sounds odd.

Positive clause-initial "as well" also elicits comment, but is now familiar to many of us. ("Nobody doesn't like Sara Lee. As well, nobody doesn't like Ben & Jerry's either.")

JL

Bill Le May <blemay0 at MCHSI.COM> wrote: ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society
Poster:       Bill Le May
Subject:      Re: "As Well."
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

> -----Original Message-----
> From: American Dialect Society
> [mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU] On Behalf Of GLL

> I have heard 'as well' used to mean 'also' (the speaker was
> from Tempe, AZ,
> fwiw.)

In the 1980s the company where I worked (in El Paso, TX) merged with a firm
from Toronto, and we had an influx of 5 or 6 Canadians, all of whom used "as
well" for also. As a result, I picked up the usage as well.

Bill Le May

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