Date: Mon, 24 Oct 1994 15:52:28 +2157800 From: Karen Wood Subject: Re: Distribution of positive "anymore" On Mon, 24 Oct 1994, Larry Horn wrote: > Oops. I seem to have misposted this response to the threads on 'anymore' and > 'needs washed' to the wrong list. The reference below to 'that citation [from] > Women in Love' was to a line Lawrence gives to Birkin that's cited (along with > an attribution to Betty Grable) in the Webster III entry for 'anymore': > "Suffering bores me any more." > ----------------------------Original message---------------------------- > It's a lot broader than Pennsylvania and Ohio. There was quite a lively dis- > cussion with many citations in American Speech during the '20s-'30s. My > impression is that it stretches almost coast-to-coast, rare in New England, > but attested as far west as California (by immigrants from the Midwest?), and > is more prevalent in rural than urban settings (e.g. Chicago vs. downstate > Illinois). And then there's that citation I mentioned from "Women in Love", > which makes one wonder whether it's found elsewhere in the motherland. "Needs > washed", on the other hand, is I think largely (though someone will be sure > to correct me) confined to Western Pennsylvania and adjacent regions. > Larry I suppose I should have said in the first place that I'm not just from penna, but indeed, from Western Penna, and that's really the only place I've heard the "needs washed" well really "needs warshed" phrase, except from a few relocated Pittsburghers (which incidentally is usually pronounced "picksburgh". But I always to my knowledge used only the negative "anymore" until I started hanging around with Iowans. I suppose I've become accustomed to the positive "anymore", but the hanging "with" (as in "Do you wanna come with?" of Minn/Wisc fame I think) still makes me do a double take. Has that one spread beyond the northern midwest or have I just missed it?