Are you annoyed by folks making sentences into questions?
They do it on NPR now, damn their eyes.
It’s a region dialect peculiar, IME, to western Pennsylvania. And because of association with a particular person who I knew who used it, it drives me bats.
In a recent thread, the use of “alot” was defended vigorously. :rolleyes: Any *anymore *bothers you??
Not any anymore, when it is used instead of nowadays. ‘Alot’ is a misspelling, not a weird usage, though.
Yeah, not Suthun at all.
Yes, the person I know who uses both “anymore” and “needs fixed” is from that area. Someone else I knew from there didn’t though.
That’s the most common usage, but it can also mean basically the opposite.
I was using it to mean “annoyed” or “disgruntled”.
Oh snap, I guess I was wrong about the origin. I never knew this use was uncommon until I read this thread, though. I have lots of family from WV with southern accents who use “anymore” like this, and I just assumed they were linked.
And affectation was the wrong term. Mannerism would be more appropriate, I think.
Oh, sure the positive anymore. It is weird, but cool.
Now you’re confusing me anymore!
Not too far wrong. “Anymore” and “needs ~ed,” in my experience, both are common not just in western PA but also central PA (where I lived in my 20s), southern OH (where I grew up), and at least the bits of WV in between.
Now that I’m out of the region I don’t use those regionalisms, uh, anymore. But I love hearing them. They remind me of home.
Anymore is usually considered to have a negative polarity in that it only functions as an emphasis to negative statements and questions.
I don’t do that anymore.
She never calls anymore.
You shouldn’t run anymore.
In all these cases, a condition existed in the past but no longer does.
The positive anymore denotes a change in the other direction. A condition or characteristic has recently popped into existence. It’s irregular and regional and certainly not appropriate for formal speech or writing but it’s a valid form of speech and I look forward to seeing if it spreads, stagnates or withers in the coming years.
It reads very strangely to these British eyes. I sometimes have to re-read a sentence with it in to make sure I’ve grasped the meaning properly. But it’s a regionalism, and I’m in no position to complain about that. Death to the lose/loose thing though!
As far as I know chuff has various negative meanings, including being a euphemism for fuck but to be chuffed about or with something is always positive and it’s opposite is dischuffed.
Those usages are also somewhat common in southern Indiana.
I’ve lived in Australia, Canada, the United Kingdom, and both the east and west coasts of the United States, as well as traveling extensively within the US.
I’ve heard “chuffed” use quite a lot, especially in the UK and Australia, and i have never once heard it used to mean the exact opposite of what it actually means.
By “it can also mean” you seem to mean “I’ve decided that it should mean.”
I think he’s confusing it with “chafed”.
:rolleyes:
It’s the second definition on Dictionary.com and in the OED, bro.
I have been noticing it more the last few years. I like it, it seems a little more wistful than “these days” or “lately”.
This phenomenon is called Positive Anymore.