Cannot and Anymore

Quicksearch

Blog Administration

Open login screen

RSS Readers

Tuesday, October 26. 2010

I cannot stand my confusion anymore.

The word is "cannot," not "can not." "Can't" always works informally, of course.

"Anymore" and "any more" are more confusing: "Any more (two words) means "no more"; anymore (one word) means "now," "currently," "at this time.""

Posted by The Barrister in The Culture, "Culture," Pop Culture and Recreation at 15:25 | Comments (7) | Trackbacks (0)

Trackbacks

Trackback specific URI for this entry

No Trackbacks

Comments

Display comments as (Linear | Threaded)

I cannot anymore figure out this grammar nohow. Or is it no how?

#1 Dan D on 2010-10-26 15:34 (Reply)

"Much I marvelled this ungainly fowl to hear discourse so plainly,
Though its answer little meaning - little relevancy bore;

Quoth the raven, `Nevermore.'"

So, Edgar, 'splain to me why it's not "never more."

#2 Big___Al on 2010-10-26 15:57 (Reply)

...maybe he was just using po english?

#2.1 buddy larsen on 2010-10-26 22:05 (Reply)

--what about, "nothing is there"? If there's no thing, how can it "be" somewhere? how can there even be an "it"?

"It is nothing", you say? Then to what does the 'it' refer?

#3 buddy larsen on 2010-10-26 22:04 (Reply)

Barrister my friend ... You've touched a nerve here with me. When I was young, oh, back around 1946, 'any more' was a two word phrase meaning, as you say, 'no more.' [Like the old song, "I don't want to play in your yard, I don't like you any more"] And anymore was a solecism, non-standard, slang-like usage meaning 'now' or 'currently' which copy editors pretty much scorned.

How things change. Downs and I looked up 'any more' and 'anymore' in recent editions of three American dictionaries--American Heritage, Webster, and dictionary.com, and none of them allowed the version 'any more'. [Sob.] Only the Oxford Universal clings to correctitude and lists the definition as you do, and I do.

Now, I'm sure that someone here is going to object to 'correctitude' but, ladies and gents, it is a real word, and I always use it with 'political' as in 'political correctitude' since it implies deliberate forcing. I just flat hate 'political correctness' since it positively reeks of smug superiority. You know what I mean.

Marianne

P. S. By the way, Youtube has a wonderful video of Peggy Lee singing "I Don't Want to Play in Your Yard." Very appropriate to today's political pushing and shoving.

#4 Marianne Matthews on 2010-10-26 22:41 (Reply)

All I know is that every day I awake at quarter past 5 in the morning and begin stumbling about looking for my everyday walking shoes. Some mornings I just cannot seem to find them. Where ever did I last place them? No matter, wherever they are I'll track them down.

#5 Knucklehead (Link) on 2010-10-27 12:08 (Reply)

Sorry barrister, but such usage distinctions are culture and class markers, not rules based on anything solid. I raised my sons with an older-style manner of speech and writing (both use the Oxford/Princeton comma, for example) because it expresses something about my values and background. But it's artificial. It can never be anything more than that. Context defines.

Imagine, for example, visiting a remote tribe and attempting to learn their language. Near the end of your study, you hear about two elderly codgers who speak a little differently, so you interview them as well. They explain to you with some irritation that those damn kids have got it all wrong, that the word is bhuti, not vuti, because it is based on an original root abhu, which is still used in the common word abhunem, but those whippersnappers don't know this. You would know immediately that however correct the old gents were about the history, the pronunciation had changed and moved on, and their pronunciation was archaic, almost obsolete. Just is.

Language changes, and changes, and keeps changing, and the usage of Aunt Sadie's time has no special claim on correctness.

#6 Assistant Village Idiot (Link) on 2010-10-30 00:15 (Reply)

Add Comment

Name
Email	(Your e-mail will not show in your comment)
Homepage
In reply to
Comment	By commenting on this site you agree to the site rules listed here. Email addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for email notifications. Quick reference guide: [i] italics [/i], [b] bold [/b], [u] underline [/u], [url] (web address) [/url]. More tips here. Enclosing asterisks marks text as bold (word), underscore are made via _word_. E-Mail addresses will not be displayed and will only be used for E-Mail notifications. To prevent automated Bots from commentspamming, please enter the string you see in the image below in the appropriate input box. Your comment will only be submitted if the strings match. Please ensure that your browser supports and accepts cookies, or your comment cannot be verified correctly. Enter the string from the spam-prevention image above: BBCode format allowed
	Remember Information? Subscribe to this entry

Maggie's Farm

Our Recent Essays Behind the Front Page

Categories

Quicksearch

Links

Blog Administration

RSS Readers

Tuesday, October 26. 2010

Cannot and Anymore