Re: CHAT: the surprise that is at me...

Nik Taylor wrote:

>DOUGLAS KOLLER wrote:
>> Apologies to Dirk. I wasn't out to disparage anyone's usage,  but the
>> affirmative-anymore does seem to elicit a reaction of "bleah" or "wha?"
>> among speakers east of the Mississippi
>
>Unlike most people, it seems, I don't find it so puzzling.  I didn't
>think he meant "not ... anymore".  However, it does sound interesting to
>me.  What's really odd to me is the use of "whenever" where I'd normally
>expect "when", that is, referring to a specific, known, incident in the
>past.  One of my friends does that all the time, and I originally found
>it irritating, but now, I guess, I've just gotten used to it.  :-)  Has
>anyone else come upon that usage?
Could you give an example?  The one that always gets me is when
you're waiting in line at the deli or the library or wherever and
the person behind the counter says "I can help who's next", or
"Can I help who's next?", or "I can help whoever's next".  It's
not that I object to that turn of phrase, I just find it interesting,
since I don't think you can normally use free relatives like "who's
next" in that way (cf. ??"I made a sandwich for who was next", as
opposed to "I made a sandwich for THE ONE who was next").  When
I was younger, the normal expression was "Can I help the next
person?", or simply "Next!"

Yesterday at the library I was waited on by a woman who
kept saying "I can help who's ever next" (or possibly "I can
help whose ever next").  So the "ever" seems to be migrating
away from the "who"...

Matt.