Date:  Sun, 17 Sep 1995 16:32:07 EDT

From:  Larry Horn <LHORN[AT SYMBOL GOES HERE]YALEVM.CIS.YALE.EDU>

Subject: Re: Usage: "any more" (fwd)



I don't know if I can track down the last two or three flurries of postings

about positive (non-polarity) 'anymore' from my old ADS and Linguist List

files, but the earliest citation I've personally attested is from Lawrence,

_Women in Love_, when Birkin announces "Suffering bores me any more". This

also demonstrates pretty clearly that it's not (just) an Americanism. I seem

to recall other citations from the British Isles, but (as you may have

discovered) research along the usual lines is a bit hampered by the fact that

the OED doesn't consider 'anymore' a word, so there's no way to check for

first citings/sightings.    --Larry Horn