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I have used the term and have heard the term anymore used in the positive. For example:

  • I use Apple anymore.
  • I use Windows anymore.

My co-workers "yelled" at me because I was using anymore incorrectly. I should use it as:

  • I don't use Apple anymore.
  • I don't use Windows anymore.

I'm from Pittsburgh originally but now live in Hawaii. Is this more common, just Pittsburghese, or is this just me?

Edit: Not a duplicate, I know the meaning, was asking about commonality and how widespread the usage is.

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  • 1
    Just you...and Pittsburghers, I feature. The colloquial use of language is by no means confined to use by Yinzers.
    – M.Mat
    Mar 10, 2017 at 2:40
  • Possible duplicate of What are the possible meanings of positive "any more"? (see Kosmonaut's and Thursagen's answers)
    – herisson
    Mar 10, 2017 at 5:55
  • I'm not from Pittsburgh and I've heard this my whole life in the central Midwest. For me it sounds most natural at the beginning of the sentence. "Anymore we stay in and watch Netflix instead of going to the movies." It reminds me of my grandmother though, so it seems old-fashioned. I always think of it as something said in response to change of habit, weather or circumstance.
    – user227547
    May 16, 2017 at 4:41

1 Answer 1

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In its article on Western Pennsylvania English, Wiki the Pedia opines:

"positive" anymore adv. these days; nowadays (Montgomery 1989; McElhinny 1999; Montgomery 1999)

Example: "It seems I always wear these shoes anymore."

Further explanation: While in Standard English anymore must be used as a negative polarity item (NPI), some speakers in Pittsburgh and throughout the Midland area do not have this restriction. When not used as an NPI, anymore means something like "these days."[31]

Geographic Distribution: the Midland (Montgomery 1989).

Origins: Likely Scots-Irish (Montgomery 1999).

  1. Robert P. Marzec (30 December 2004). The Mid-Atlantic Region. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 271. ISBN 978-0-313-32954-8. Retrieved 1 November 2012.

So yes, using anymore in a positive sense is a characteristic of Pittsburghese unseen in Standard English, where it is mandatorily a negative polarity item.

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