Usage of "anymore?"

Factual Questions
1

I’ve been wondering about this for some time, but I can’t stand not knowing anymore. :smiley: (to borrow Spoz’s phrase, my ambient / latent curiosity has been bugging me for too long)

On Sunday night, I was telling a Denver friend (via MSN) about my Friday afternoon. (I’d been at the PNE with a new friend of mine) I mentioned that I’d had a salmon sausage, which cost $6.50. He then told me:

I wondered why he was using “anymore” in that fashion. He’d used that construct on me before, but I’d never really asked why. He never really told me any reason, but just said that things cost more today than they did ten years ago. (which I knew)

I told him that I’d say something like, “Everything costs that much at restaurants these days.” Asked if it was regional usage, and he wasn’t that helpful. (“well, you can say it like that next time you talk to me!” … sure, dude…)

I don’t think it’s a turn of phrase that he picked up from a friend. Certain people from Arizona and Colorado have used that on me before, as well… and I’ve seen it on these boards and others.

So is this usage of “anymore” some sort of regional usage local to Colorado and Arizona, or is this a reference to something else that I’m not getting?

F_X

2

I’m not sure of any etymology, but it’s not limited to the western part of the country. I’m from northeast Ohio and live in Pittsburgh, and I’ve heard it in both places. And yes, saying “these days” would be exactly the same. But “anymore” sounds more natural to me.

3

Did you happen to miss this recent thread?

http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=198554

The only person I’ve heard use it (recently) in a “positive” sense was from Michigan.

4

Harvard’s dialect survey tries to map the usage of “anymore” like you described. It is fairly geographically spread out but certainly not acceptable to most respondents. I think it is weird too BTW.

http://hcs.harvard.edu/~golder/dialect/staticmaps/q_54.html

5

Here is some more info.

http://www.bartleby.com/61/59/A0355900.html

6

Actually it wouldn’t be. In this case, “anymore” is incorrect. I dont’ know where this usuage started, or when, but it’s wrong IMO, and it grates on my ears like fingernails on a blackboard.

7

This thread was accidentally started twice. Both copies received responses, so I have merged the two threads.

bibliophage
moderator GQ

8

From Bryan A. Garner, Garner’s Modern American Usage (2003):

9

Do people use “any” in a positive sense? “I have any money”?

10

“Like the waves crash on the sand, like a storm that’ll break any second…”

11

Thanks, bibliophage. 'Twas definitely an accident.

Many thanks for the information, guys.

Earl Snake-Hips Tucker, I did indeed miss that thread. I don’t really frequent this forum that often, though perhaps I should. I’ll go take a look at it now…

Upon looking at it, I have to agree that the usage of the word in this way just sounds very weird. I don’t correct people who use it in this way, although it just makes me wince when I see it on my screen. Good thing I don’t have to hear anyone I know IRL use it this way, huh? (I don’t think this usage will spread to where I am, thank goodness!)
brianmelendez, I guess I must be like the people from Missouri cited in that study… at least in that I don’t like that usage. It may be well-established in rural areas (and gaining a foothold in others), but it just sounds wrong to me.

Q.E.D., I totally agree with you. Only in this case, I guess it would make my brain figuratively scream: “Not again… NOOOO!!” every time I see it written out in text.

Shagnasty, thanks for the links. I’ll look at them later when I’m more awake. (had a long day today, and need to get to bed)

F_X

12

There’s a hunger in the land, there’s a reckoning still to be reckoned…

(I don’t know what this has to do with the thread; I just couldn’t help myself.)

13

I’m assuming this is in response to me. I don’t think that’s truly positive, since it’s being used in a variable sense (it could be this second, or the next, etc.).

14

Yes, in a question : “Do you have any money?” which could be negatively phrased as: “Do you not have any money?”

The phrase in the OP grates my ears too.

15

I’d say that when I’ve heard ‘anymore’ used as described in the OP, there’s usually an implied negative, or sense of “not anymore”. So even though it’s being used in a positive declarative statement, the implication is still that some state of affairs which used to exist, no longer does.

For instance:

“That’s what it costs to eat out anymore”=“You can’t dine out for less than $10 (or whatever)”.

“Anymore, people wear jeans to go on an airplane”*=“People don’t dress up for airplane trips anymore”.

*actually said by a veteran flight attendant on a documentary about the evolution of air travel.

16

I use “anymore” from time to time to mean “these days”. Like so:

Person A: Can you buy comic books for a quarter?

Person B: Not anymore.

17

My stepfather (born and raised in Washington State) uses this construction. Drives me nuts. What’s worse, my mother has picked it up from him.