I am still believing...

[Arun K Raman]

I think it was the presence of the adverb that actually caught my attention.
I used to live in rural east Texas and, in retrospect, I've probably heard
it there as well. "I'm believing X" seems more acceptable to me than "i'm
still believing X." Of course, the google data as noted from before showing
53500 hits for "I'm believing" versus 12,200 for "i'm still believing" seem
to show that I've let my years in rural texas find one more accepting than
another.

Date:    Wed, 6 Feb 2008 18:43:48 EST
From:    RonButters at AOL.COM
Subject: "I am still believing..."

Similar to established Southern US dialect, "I've been knowing him all my
life" (in the sense of being acquainted)--though such speakers would not say
"I'm
knowing him" (except perhaps in the carnal sense).

In the case of "I'm still believing/liking/loving," the presence of the
adverb makes this more acceptable to me.


In a message dated 2/5/08 10:43:16 PM, jharbeck at SYMPATICO.CA writes:


> I think it's part of a larger trend to put mental state verbs in the
> present progressive. I remember "I'm not liking this little boy" from
> a play back in the late '80s or early '90s, and "I'm liking X" or
> "I'm not liking X" has caught on fairly well, as, certainly, have
> "I'm loving X" and, of course, "I'm thinking X".
>
> "I'm beliving" gets 53,500 Google hits and "I'm still believing" gets
> 12,200. I'm thinking we'll be having to be getting used to this.
>
> James Harbeck.
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>


--
-
Arun K Raman

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