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Re: anymore (was: Re: the surprise that is at me...)

From:nicole perrin <nicole.eap@...>
Date:Saturday, February 26, 2000, 21:35
DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
> > From: "dirk elzinga" > > > lots of late '60s radical political stuff mixed in with not very > > serious linguistics; it's a historical curiosity anymore > > but > > > like the old Laugh-In, the jokes just aren't funny anymore > > A detour: "anymore" in an affirmative sentence makes my idiolect cringe. I > first heard this usage back in university, and balked at it then, but > greater exposure made it something I accepted, but never internalized. I > haven't heard this in quite a while, but here it is again. In a negative > sentence, piece o' cake, but in an affirmative sentence, I'd opt for "these > days" or some such. Is this just my idiolect, or something more "back East"? > Other Northeast speakers?
As a New Englander, I'm not even sure what it would mean..."it's a historical curiosity anymore" would mean to me "it's a historical curiosity now" I would think, although my first reaction would be that the writer forgot to put in a "not" somewhere. But I wouldn't say it's just your idiolect that doesn't permit it; I've never heard it spoken before, and if I've ever seen it written I probably wrote it off as a mistake -- or didn't even notice it, assume it to be a negative sentence. Nicole -- nicole.eap@snet.net http://nicole.conlang.org -- "I had never realized that the whole purpose of converting to Buddhism was to show off how enlightened you'd become." -Andrew Koller