"Anymore." (Semi-rant)
 

I guess this is my curse for living in the midwest, but I hadn't noticed this until the past year or so. I saw someone do this on TFP today (not the first time) and I felt compelled to say something.

The word "anymore" means "any longer." It's a rather simple word, without too many uses, but somehow it is starting to be used incorrectly! I don't want to single out the person on TFP who reminded me of this today, but their post led me to look "anymore" up in the dictionary, just to be absolutely positive. I was shocked to find out that the American Heritage Dictionary lists the improper use as a dialectal!! I'm sorry, it's not a dialect, it's just wrong. :(

Have you heard "anymore" used this way? Does it grate on your ears the way it hurts mine? It's quickly becoming more frustrating to me than "irregardless."

Do you use "anymore" in this way? Have you always done so, or is this something that you've recently started doing? Don't the sentences just sound wrong to you when you use it that way???? :p (Please take that with the intended humor, even if I do think you're wrong ;))

Quoth the raven...anymore..

anymore of that where it came from?

:D

I hear it every once in a while and I do admit that when I hear it, I pause and wonder what they meant.

The odd thing about our language is its evolutionary nature.

Imagine reading a story to 4th graders in which a boy is referred to as "queer". The story was written 50 years ago. I've found, much to my dismay, that when reading a story like this, in order to avoid 3 minutes worth of giggling, I have to read it as "strange", instead.

Webster Wept.

I've never heard that usage before.. Interesting.

I guess there's no "correct" use of a word, sometimes. If enough people use it in a different fashion, then it will get picked up in the dictionary as a secondary meaning or a dialect.

Except for "irregardless". I can't accept that word, even if it's in the dictionary :).

Thank you, I think "irregardless" is a more accurate parallel.

It's true, language is evolutionary, and I'd put "queer" into that category: at least the new intended meaning is in some way connected to the old intended meaning. In the case of "anymore," I just don't see that connection. And, really, I think the main test of whether something is language evolving or whether it's just wrong is "does it require me to stop and think carefully about what was said in order to figure out what was meant." Like JJ, every time I hear "anymore" used in this way, it takes me extra time to re-read or hear the sentence and figure out what was meant.

Anymore, people don't seem to care what proper usage of words is.

I say that if it's in the dictionary, it IS proper, acknowledged usage, especially if it's noted as dialectical. I'd much rather have a language that morphs over time than Academie Française-style language management organizations policing the word usements I structure.

hehe, Academie Française makes me laugh. No, I prefer a much more democratic approach to language: that is, if you don't like the emerging grammar, beat it down! :p

I'm being silly, but seriously...just as much as it's ok for language to change by people insisting on new uses, the people who oppose such changes are an important voice as well. Sometimes, if the case is compelling, the Grammar Nazi's will carry the day and, hopefully, stave off the possible widespread acceptance of words like "irregardless." Other times, the Grammar Nazis will lose and it will become normal for people to say "ironic" when they mean "coincidental." Either way, it's democracy in action! :p

I'm the last person to complain about grammar and proper word useage but that just sounds so wrong.
Then again, I still haven't gotten used to people saying "I's got to axe you sumpin".

"Ohh, you mean X-Mas. You must be using an archaic pronounciation, like when you say 'ask' instead of 'axe'."

edit: It's pronunciation, isn't it? Dammit.

edit: I mean damnit.

"We use a gas stove anymore"

Can you cite a few other examples? I've never heard this before and it doesn't make any sense to me.

Double negatives and improper contractions may be sloppy, but they generally get the message across. I'm thoroughly confused by this use of "Anymore".

How odd...

I'm not sure if I understand or if you posted the misuse. Maybe the user heard it and was never corrected.

But I do know I can't stand hearing the word "irregardless" or "could of", "would of".

I work with people from all walks of life. Sure some things said do grate on me, but I am also sure that the manner I speak is imperfect and others may find me rubbing their nerves as well. Don't sweat the small stuff, it can be overwhelming.

Once we found it acceptable to end sentences with prepositions, I think we became more flexible with the use of our language. The pre-dictionary use of English would appall some of you. Language is a living entity; it is prone to change.

If you can't live with that, at least stop ending sentences with prepositions. It will add weight to your cause, and it will make you sound far more educated, if not stuffy.

Phhhfffffffft! Put a sentence restructuring filter here at TFP and I'll stop. As if. :p

It doesn't make any sense to me either, which is why I made this thread :p As for other examples, it's hard for me to even think in that way, but I'll try to create one by mimicking the sentence I came across today...

"I tend to be skeptical anymore when I hear about a new study showing a certain food is bad for me."

It's just...odd.Which is why I ignore it most of the time and haven't bothered to correct one of my friends who is notorious for this. Still, no reason not to express my thoughts once in awhile :)

Like I said to ratbastid, I'm just as much a speaker of the language as anyone else is. Therefore, I do get a say in how it changes. Most of the time I don't care - such as when a sentence is ended with a preposition - but when I'm forced to go back and decipher my own language to figure out what someone is trying to say, then I'm more prone to speak up and be mildly annoyed. I recognize language is living, but as a part of that I see no reason why it's less valid for me to dislike a particular usage than it is for someone else to use a word improperly. (Being in the dictionary doesn't necessarily mean something is proper: Random House Dictionary, for example, includes "coincidental" as a definition of "ironic," but 78% of American Heritage Dictionary's usage panel rejects that use.)

Do you have any more examples of that. Kidding.

Drives me as nuts as people saying 'real', as in "it was a real good movie," rather than, "it was a very good movie."

Damned syntax

Sheesh.

I still can't used to people calling soda "pop", and now you go and spring this on me?

...but you're stuffed with sunshine and puppies, Baraka!

http://img167.imageshack.us/img167/8...marnazifb9.jpg

With my constant typo's I avoid being a grammar nazi unless it reads like a 15 year olds text message to her bbf.

And being a born Midwesterner I like nowadays ;)

That's the thing that gets me...I've lived in the Chicago suburbs all my life and I never heard this usage until I met one of my friends from Ohio in college. Then again, I've always said Chicago isn't really part of the midwest.

Yeah, I can't say I've come across this much myself...thankfully. I wasn't even aware until recently that his particular use of the word existed. There are plenty of things that are entirely forgivable, such as saying "anyways" or forgetting the apostrophe in the possessive form of its. Using anymore to mean "nowadays" (another cringe-worthy word :p) is just...wrong. It just doesn't sound right or logical in any way. I have to wonder how that usage even came about. I'm not a "grammar Nazi," but if I ever hear someone use it in that way, I'll certainly give them a strange look if nothing else. :p

I've lived in the burbs too, I'd guess you were in the north burbs.

I've heard this particular use of the word "anymore" many times and it's never struck me as odd. I've lived in Utah since I was 3 except during hubby's stint in the Marines...we lived in North Carolina then.

See, "Nowadays" may be a made-up, amalgamated word (expression?) but at least it has an apparent connection to its meaning: "In present times...". In both the example sentences, "Anymore" sticks out like a sore thumb.

In my eyes, it may as well read "We use a gas stove elephantine." or "We use a gas stove Shaka, when the walls fell."

Hehe, agreed! :thumbsup:

I wouldn't say this, but I would use the negative "We don't use a gas stove anymore." It only sounds odd to me in the positive. But for annoying use of language you can't beat my former ethics professor who pronounced "especially" as "expecially." Drove me nuts.

I thought the posessive form of its wasn't supposed to have an apostrophe, and it's is always a contraction.

Picard would have known.

Since the topic of grammar nazis has already been brought up, I'll continue it. Why is it that we belittle people who are concerned with effective communication? I was taught in school that a person's ideas are only as good as his or her ability to communicate them to others. I find it odd that we scoff at the idea of proper written communication.

If your ideas come across as though they're written by a 6th grade dropout, then expect your ideas to be treated as such.

How about the common misuse of "even"? "I don't even have a clue." "We're even gonna get to meet Elvis."

Other biggies on my list: "hot water heater" and "stupidest" .. we used to get corrected on "stupidest" back in elementary school. It really grates on my nerves. :expressionless:

Northwest...my family isn't even close to wealthy enough to live in the north :pYou win the thread. :)Right, if the sentence were negative it would be the correct usage. It's the positive form that is apparently part of a midwestern dialect that I've never heard until recently.

Heh, you are correct. That's what I get for typing faster than my brain can think. :p

That's poppycock, Crompsie. I'm a goth kid.

It isn't less valid for you to dislike any usage. But at the same time, it's kinda pointless to rail against it; it will change nonetheless. Be grateful--by as late as the Middle Ages, English dialect was so varied that peasants couldn't understand one another if they weren't living in the same district. Now with the information age, you are finding both shifting usage and new words. I'm pretty sure webinar isn't a word, but it's a bit more useful than saying Web-based seminar or online seminar. I don't like it one bit, but there isn't much I can do. The only thing any of us can do is try to keep up with what people are trying to say.

For God's sake, the only people I can stop from using the ghastly word utilize are my authors.

Newspeak be damned.

DoublePlusGood Response, there, old chap.

You know, QFT and all that.

Only possible answer: FOSHIZZLE, MY JUMPIN JIZZLE!

Yeah, goth like Hamlet.

I don't comprehend why the word is being used that way and I've never heard that usage.

I'm pretty forgiving for a couple of reasons.

One, I have a horrid time trying to remember words and use some incorrectly at times. This means I live in a glass house so no rock throwing coming from me. :)

Second, I grew up in Appalachia, the land of ain't and other cringe worthy words and phrases. 'Far wood for sell' is still my favorite sign. :lol:

You don't know the meaning of mangled English until you spend some time chatting with the locals here... all sorts of odd syntax and usage that has been normalized.

I have to wear my Universal translator at all times...

scary that the stupid masses can dictate what is proper, appropriate and "right"

That is downright weird. Here in the UK we have a strange phenomenon of young people ending their sentences with "innit". Presumably it's a corruption of "isn't it?" but it can be appended to any sentence, innit.

Yes. I agree. I used the same approach when I was teaching high school English as well as undergraduate anthropology. I only know what you write down on paper... and if you can't express your idea fully and completely on paper, then I can't give you the full grade for the idea, because your writing got in the way.

I also fully expect people to correct me when I make a mistake. Thing is, most people don't correct me because they haven't even noticed when I've made a "mistake" in the first place.

I have also noticed this "anymore" business (mostly on the internet) and I twitch slightly when I read it. YouTube comments make me have full-on seizures when I read them... I don't know why, but that place seems to collect all of the worst writers in the world, in any language.

Depending on where you are in Canada, the same sentences can end like this;

It's a nice day,eh?

It's a nice day, what?

It's a nice day, yeah?

It's a nice day, huh?

It's a nice day, you?

Different regions, different speak