I've been doing some ongoing cleaning out of my desk at work (as I move upstairs to my corner office with a window) and came across some notes from a conference we had in 2003. I was fascinated by the US Consulate representative's usage of 'anymore' in a positive context and took more notes on that aspect than on how to get a passport replacement for a student...
"We're all full of databases anymore"
"It's the smart way to travel anymore"
Finally got around to being properly way-tracked (thanks, Alex) from work and 'parently it's a dialect thing from Midland US States and a bit from New England and may go back to a Scots-Irish dialect.
From the Maven's Word of the Day http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980206 :
"Anymore, I just can't get out of bed in the morning," is a dialect form that has gotten a great deal of attention from writers. It means 'nowadays; at present', and is found in positive constructions. Usage critics often condemn this use, and also often think it is new, but it is found back to the 1850s in America, and becomes especially common after the 1930s.
From the Linguistic Society of America http://www.lsadc.org/faq/index.php?aaa=faqengl.htm :
I've been eating a lot of pizza anymore. In this use, anymore means something like 'lately'. If that sounds odd to you now, keep listening; you may be hearing it in your neighborhood before long.
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