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old hand
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old hand
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Jackie
My experience chimes with this. Only USns seem to use it.
cheer
the sunshine warrior
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Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 81
journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 81 |
Aha! How about this. Standard usage "We don't do that any more", with "any" meaning it's governed by a negation.
But that can be reinterpreted as "We don't do that these days". Therefore, in these varieties: "any more" = "these days".
The one-or-more word thing could come out of stress. "Are there any MOre" is a different pattern from "We don't do it any-more".
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Mar 2000
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I see it differently. "Anymore" and "any more" are two entirely different parts of speech. "Anymore" is an adverb, plain and simple. "Any more" is an adjectival phrase governed by an adverb. "I haven't found any mushrooms" means I never did. "I haven't found any more mushrooms" means I found some once, recently, but haven't found any since, though I keep looking. "I don't find mushrooms anymore" means either I'm not looking for them or the last time I looked was long, long ago. "I find mushrooms anymore" is outside my speech patterns.
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journeyman
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journeyman
Joined: Nov 2003
Posts: 81 |
I agree there are two totally different things, but I'd spell both of them "any more". Obviously there's the straightforward any + more where the two words have their separate meanings - I can't find any more mushrooms.
But the "any more" that's the negative of "still" is odd. I'd write it as two words "I don't do it any more", but can understand why you'd close it up: it doesn't much look like a compound. Well, sort of it is: "I did it some more" vs "I didn't do it any more". But apart from that it doesn't really behave as a compound of any and more, does it?
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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"I go to bed early anymore" translates roughly into "I go to bed early 'these days'". I've heard this and similar usage all my life, including the examples AnnaS says she beleives to be of new currency.
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Pooh-Bah
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Pooh-Bah
Joined: Mar 2002
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I said above I haven't heard this usage, and the following from Encarta seems, like Jackie's post and some others above, to confirm that it is a US thing but gives a bit more detail on geography of where it is used: anymore or any more? The adverbs any more (written as two words) and anymore (written as one word) are equally standard in American English and some other varieties (for example, South African English) Both forms are used after a negative or a question: She doesn’t live here anymore. Do you eat out any more? Regional History Used in the positive sense, “nowadays,” as in asparagus is expensive anymore, anymore recurs over much of the United States. It is strongest in the South Midland states of Kentucky and Indiana, but is also fairly common in the Upper and Lower Midwest, from Minnesota to Oklahoma, and in the Blue Ridge region of Virginia. So there we are, it is used in the US, but doesn't seem to have fully spread out to the coasts yet!
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Carpal Tunnel
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OP
Carpal Tunnel
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I've heard this and similar usage all my lifeFigures *you'd buck the geographic demographic, Juan.
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