# "Anymore" to mean "nowadays"? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 18, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358 "2003-07-18T11:06:08Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 17\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Colophon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f05b48/32.png) [@Colophon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colophon)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/1 "2003-07-18T11:06:08Z")
In [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?s=&threadid=198507), **Ruby** wrote: > [@](#): > > DVD players are c-h-e-a-p anymore… Is this a common usage anym… er, I mean nowadays? I’d never seen it, but Googling seems to bring it up a fair bit. I’d only ever use “any more” (as two words) in a negative sense, as in “He doesn’t live there any more” i.e. he used to live there but he lives there no more. Here, the meaning of the words “any more” is clear. There is possibly an argument for using “anymore” as one word, to distinguish it from the other use of “any more”: “Would you like any more cake?” “I did, but I don’t anymore.” Using it in a positive sense just seems weird to me, though. Any more what? _[sub]fixed link - **DrMatrix** [/sub]_ ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/2 "2003-07-18T11:14:57Z")
[AHD](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anymore) says it’s valid, but it’s used chiefly in Midland USA. ---
**Author:** ![Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/b77776/32.png) [@Planet\_of\_the\_Shapes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Planet_of_the_Shapes)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/3 "2003-07-18T11:21:44Z")
I’ve never heard of that usage here in the UK. You crazy Americans, inventing all these new meanings for words… ---
**Author:** ![Achernar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e274bd/32.png) [@Achernar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Achernar)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/4 "2003-07-18T11:22:35Z")
Actually, according to that link, the earliest recorded examples are from Northern Ireland. FWIW. ---
**Author:** ![Arcite](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/67e7ee/32.png) [@Arcite](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Arcite)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/5 "2003-07-18T12:16:00Z")
My dad uses “anymore” that way, and it drives me _crazy_. I can’t convince him it’s wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Number](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/number/32/242_2.png) [@Number](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Number)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/6 "2003-07-18T12:24:09Z")
I agree with the [dictionary.com](http://dictionary.com) note. I never heard this usage when I lived on the west coast. It’s ubiquitous here in the midwest. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 12:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/7 "2003-07-18T12:41:57Z")
I grew up in St Louis and it was always used to mean “no longer”. I never heard it used as “nowadays” until I moved to Kansas. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 1:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/8 "2003-07-18T13:00:47Z")
Very commonly used here in WV. ---
**Author:** ![dil](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f04885/32.png) [@dil](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dil)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/9 "2003-07-18T14:02:09Z")
This drives me CRAZY and it seems to be a rural thing. I have visited both Iowa and Idaho lately and I hear it constantly there. It just sounds so painfully wrong though. “You can buy anything on the internet anymore.” It’s like one of those grammar text’s weird examples of poor english where you think, “Who would ever talk like THAT?” Some other annoying sayings from the heartland: “This carpet needs swept.” or “The lawn needs mowed.” OK first of all you don’t sweep fricking carpeting, and secondly who taught you how to conjugate??? I hear this all the time too. “I’m gonna learn you some manners, boy!” No explanation needed. ---
**Author:** ![SnoopyFan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d07c76/32.png) [@SnoopyFan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SnoopyFan)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/10 "2003-07-18T22:18:55Z")
“But Your Honor, he needed killin’ …” ---
**Author:** ![panache45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/panache45/32/64_2.png) [@panache45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/panache45)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/11 "2003-07-18T22:33:04Z")
Yes, it drives me crazy too, anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Kevin\_H](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/9de0a6/32.png) [@Kevin\_H](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kevin_H)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2003, 11:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/12 "2003-07-18T23:53:39Z")
I know people from Wilkes-Barre/Scranton, PA that use anymore like this, and I have to “correct” them everytime. ---
**Author:** ![snac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/90db22/32.png) [@snac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/snac)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 3:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/13 "2003-07-19T03:44:29Z")
For those of you who find it terrible and midwestern and American and unlettered, chew on this: The expression appears in D. H. Lawrence’s works…I believe it is Sons and Lovers, but it may be Women In Love. (Sorry, being terrible and midwestern and American and only moderately lettered–I am officially snac, BA–I’m not up on my Lawrence.) He uses it in a conversation between two appropriately upper-crust Brits. Things are really weird any more, huh? ---
**Author:** ![Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/50afbb/32.png) [@Satisfying\_Andy\_Licious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Satisfying_Andy_Licious)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 6:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/14 "2003-07-19T06:47:04Z")
For the record, “anymore” does, indeed, mean “nowadays.” That is how my dictionary defines it, while also noting that it is usually used in negative constructions: _Alice doesn’t live here anymore_ being equivalent to _Alice does not live here nowadays."_ (It can also be used to indicate future actions – _They agreed not to fight anymore_ but again properly in a negative construction.) [This reference says:](http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=anymore&r=67) > [@](#): > > Regional Note: In standard American English the word anymore is often found in negative sentences: They don’t live here anymore. But anymore is widely used in regional American English in positive sentences with the meaning “nowadays”: “We use a gas stove anymore” (Oklahoma informant in DARE). Its use, which appears to be spreading, is centered in the South Midland and Midwestern states, as well as in the Western states that received settlers from those areas. The earliest recorded examples are from Northern Ireland, where the positive use of anymore still occurs. For people who use it in non-negative constructions – You can buy it on the internet anymore – the danger is that people trained to hear it in a negative construction will think you just said “can’t” instead of “can.” At least I would. ---
**Author:** ![Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ccd318/32.png) [@Paul\_in\_Qatar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Paul_in_Qatar)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 11:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/15 "2003-07-19T11:55:39Z")
Nonetheless, all the “Anywords” such as anymore, anybody, anylonger, anyway, anything and anyone are generally used in quastions (where they are interchangable with the “Somewords” or in negative replies. ---
**Author:** ![pasty2003](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ce7236/32.png) [@pasty2003](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pasty2003)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/16 "2003-07-19T15:14:51Z")
Having been on Holiday in the U.S. recently i came across some american english that astounded me. Apart from being told to ‘DEBARK’ the aircraft, when watching some american ‘sport’ on the TV i was shocked to hear the team on best form being described as the ‘WINNINGEST’ team!!! Whats all that about??? Although who am i to say being from Northern Ireland, i cant talk much good queen england meself. But in relation to the original question i wouldnt use ‘anymore’ in that context and dont know anyone who does. ---
**Author:** ![Wumpus](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8c91f0/32.png) [@Wumpus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wumpus)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2003, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/anymore-to-mean-nowadays/189358/17 "2003-07-19T16:39:52Z")
I never, ever heard “anymore” used this way growing up in Wisconsin. First time I did hear it was from a guy I knew in college who was from Ohio. I thought he was nuts. 🙂