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

In a message dated 2/26/2000 4:37:29 PM Eastern Standard Time,
nicole.eap@SNET.NET writes:

<< 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. >>
It does mean "nowadays, these days".  I grew up in the midwest, lived in
Boston and NYC for substantial periods, SC and FL intermittently, and NEVER
encountered that usage until I hit Michigan.  When I hear it occasionally on
TV or radio, I just assume the speaker is a Detroiter.....  Even after
30-some years, it still grates, tho I use it.
Off topic, but another bugaboo:  the increasing prevalence of "momento" for
"memento".
And another:  currently popular is "same-old, same-old".  Wm. Safire has
written about this, but hasn't traced it back.  In the 50's, in the Army, the
older guys who had been stationed in Japan during the Occupation and Korean
War, used to say "same-o, same-o".  This arose from their belief that you
could turn English words into Japanese by adding -o! ("Hey, mama-san, you
want present-o?").  So maybe those who say "same-old" are vaguely remembering
 something from their fathers' speech? (at the same time avoiding the
offensive underlying racism).