ATDTDA (23): "it's way too late anymore" (643.10)

[David Payne]

I confess to the opposite: I revel in the misuse of words, colloquial or, like, whatever dude. But I am sure that this is all to my discredit (hrumph!).
 
At any rate, turning to the dictionary, I was delighted to note that stogy old OED (online) refuses to even acknowledge "anymore" as a word; instead they choose to define "any more." Ha!
 
But check out their definitions and usage examples:
 
    1. a. In negative, interrogative, or hypothetical contexts: in repetition or continuance of what has taken place up to a particular time; further, longer, again. 
 
[My note: this is the definition we expected, so I cut out the usage examples. But check out the next beauty of a def!]
 
    b. Chiefly Irish English and N. Amer. colloq. In affirmative contexts: now, nowadays, at the present time; from now on. 
 
1898 Eng. Dial. Dict. I. 63/1 [Northern Ireland] A servant being instructed how to act, will answer ‘I will do it any more’. 1903 McClure's Mag. Dec. 215/1 There's just only this one any more. 1920 D. H. LAWRENCE Women in Love xiii. 167 ‘Quite absurd,’ he said. ‘Suffering bores me, any more.’ 1938 J. STUART Beyond Dark Hills x. 319 You know, Jesse, any more I don't worry a great lot. 1961 T. MURPHY Whistle in Dark in Plays (1989) IV. II. 47 We'll squeeze Michael a bit. He'll chip in anymore. 1973 Capital Times (Madison, Wisconsin) 14 Mar. 2/1 Any more, the difference between a white collar worker and a blue collar worker is simply a matter of shirt preference. 1979 Whig-Standard (Kingston, Ontario) 20 Nov. 1/3 Everything we do anymore seems to have to be done in a big hurry. 1996 C. I MACAFEE Conc. Ulster Dict. 7/1, I think it'll be fine any more.
 
Well, I don't think that the OED quite nails it this time: "N. Amer. colloq"? Not quite. A check at dictionary.com suggests this affirmative usage is "midland south" (anyone here from OK or southern Illinois?--Keith McMullen still out there?):
 
"—Usage note The adverb anymore meaning “any longer” or “nowadays” is most commonly spelled as one word [...]. In some dialects, chiefly South Midland in origin, it is found in positive statements meaning “nowadays”: Baker's bread is all we eat anymore. Anymore we always take the bus. Its use at the beginning of a sentence is almost exclusive to speech or to representations of speech." -- dictionary.com
 
 "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." -- American Heritage DictionarySo I think Pynchon's use seems in line with the colloquial anymore,--but this does not, of course, mean that he did not, of course, intend to dually suggest the ironical double negative...



> Date: Wed, 28 Nov 2007 23:15:55 -0600> From: michael.lee.bailey at gmail.com> To: pynchon-l at waste.org> Subject: Re: ATDTDA (23): "it's way too late anymore" (643.10)> > I remember being vaguely disconcerted when a co-worker in> 1977 said, "Anymore, it's not what you know, it's who you know"> > but I blanched the first few times I heard "impact" used as a verb,> so what do I know? And I actually cringed the first (many) times> somebody asked for my "social" (meaning social security number),> and the first couple hundred times I heard people say "PIN Number"> > Anymore, those phrases seem right, and I use them myself...> > > > On 11/28/07, Mark Kohut <markekohut at yahoo.com> wrote:> >> >> >> > Ewball, now arms merchant, sounds massively cynical to me with> >> > some kind of colloquialism...> >> >> >> > "it's always been a bad time" ............It's always been doomed up there"> >> >> > ----- Original Message ---> > -> > From: Tim Strzechowski <dedalus204 at comcast.net>> > To: Pynchon-L <pynchon-l at waste.org>> > Sent: Wednesday, November 28, 2007 5:06:37 AM> > Subject: ATDTDA (23): "it's way too late anymore" (643.10)> >> > "For you-all, it's way too late anymore."> >> >> > Strange.> >> > I keep returning to this phrase, trying to figure it out.> >> > In the context of the paragraph, Ewball is commenting to Dwayne on how> > Americans are more or less beyond hope because they've "delivered> > [themselves] into the hands of capitalists and Christers," whereas "folks> > down here still have a chance."> >> > But to my ear it's an odd construction. Why follow up "It's way too late"> > with the word "anymore"? Is this Pynchon trying to evoke colloquial> > folk-speak, or broken English? Or is there the subtle suggestion of a> > double-negative in the phrase: wouldn't "anymore" seem more befitting a> > sentence like, "It's not too late"? So, does "It's way too late anymore"> > function as an ironic statement by the unwitting Ewball?> >> > Strange.> >> >> >> >> > ________________________________> > Be a better sports nut! Let your teams follow you with Yahoo Mobile. Try it> > now.
_________________________________________________________________
Connect and share in new ways with Windows Live.
http://www.windowslive.com/connect.html?ocid=TXT_TAGLM_Wave2_newways_112007
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://waste.org/pipermail/pynchon-l/attachments/20071129/3b04a7e5/attachment-0001.html>