"I am good" or "I am well" ?

[emsr2d2]

From Billmcd: "I'm good" seems to have snuck its way into BrE over the last few years. (And so has "snuck" )

Really?! I've always been under the impression that "snuck" was the standard BrE past tense and "sneaked" was AmE.

I generally assume that irregular past tenses are BrE if there are two alternatives (ie "learnt" vs "learned")

[TheParser]

I've always been under the impression that "snuck" was the standard BrE past tense and "sneaked" was AmE.

CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER


(1) "Sneak is a word of mysterious origin. It first turns up in Shakespeare.

Sneak not away, sir, for the friar and you must have a word.

-- Measure for Measure, 1605"

(2) "Sometime in the late 19th century a variant irregular form, snuck, began to

appear in the United States."

(3) Occurence in British English is rare but not unknown."

Source: Webster's Dictionary of English Usage (1989).

(4) "The standard past form is sneaked. Surprisingly, though, snuck appears

half as often in American writing as sneaked."

Source: A Dictionary of American Usage (1998) by Bryan A. Garner, whom some people call the "American Fowler."

P.S. I forgot to mention that Webster's Dictionary of English Usage thinks that

eventually "snuck" may win the battle because it seems to be popular with the

young.

[TheParser]

Is "good" both adjective and adverb?

.

CAUTION: NOT A TEACHER


(1) I have just read that a certain American entertainer has done very well during the

last two years. (In fact, he has 2,000,000 Twitter followers.)

(2) He has just written a book.

(a) Its title is (I have left out a few words on purpose and the word in bold is my emphasis):

Life Advice From a Fat, Lazy [person] Who Did Good.


Source: Newsweek, February 13, 2012.

[5jj]

A rare difference of opinion here, ems.

Really?! I've always been under the impression that "snuck" was the standard BrE past tense and "sneaked" was AmE.
I've always assumed that 'snuck' is AmE.

I generally assume that irregular past tenses are BrE if there are two alternatives (ie "learnt" vs "learned")
I agree with you there, though there are exceptions - 'dived/dove'. I have taken 'sneaked/snuck' to be one of the exceptions.

[emsr2d2]

I generally assume that irregular past tenses are BrE if there are two alternatives (ie "learnt" vs "learned")
I agree with you there, though there are exceptions - 'dived/dove'. I have taken 'sneaked/snuck' to be one of the exceptions.

5jj - did you mean that "dove" is an exception to the mini-rule that irregular past tenses are normally BrE? I only ask because I was taught that "dove" was the past of "dive" from a very early age. I still baulk when I hear "dived" from anyone!

[5jj]

5jj - did you mean that "dove" is an exception to the mini-rule that irregular past tenses are normally BrE? I only ask because I was taught that "dove" was the past of "dive" from a very early age. I still baulk when I hear "dived" from anyone!

Horrrors! "Dive is regular in British English, but can be irregular in American English." Swan, Michael (1980) Practical English Usage (3rd ed, 2005.286), Oxford: OUP

[konungursvia]

I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.

But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".

[5jj]

konungursvia: I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.
I gave it little thought before this thread. Because 'I am good' sounded completely wrong to me - as a speaker of BrE, I found only 'I am well' natural' - I assumed that 'good' must be a an uneducated mis-use of an adjective for an adverb.This thread has made me realise that in 'I am X', words that fill the X gap are always adjectives, and that 'well' must be functioning as an adjective here. We see the same in "She looks intelligent, worried, well, good, etc'. I had previously realised that, as well as being the adverb we use when we require an adverb for 'good', 'well' means 'in good health. What I should have realised that if 'ill' in 'I am ill' was an adjective, 'well' must also function as an adjective at times.

The only question now is: 'does "I am good" mean exactly the same as "I am well"?'

k: But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".
5: This also happens with many speakers of BrE. It is still, in my opinion, is sub-standard usage.

[emsr2d2]

I suppose you're right about "I"m well" having an adjective in it, I hadn't given it enough thought, 5jj.

But when you listen to Bill Clinton speak, you hear him use "good" as an adverb, more than half of the time you or I would use "well".

When I hear any politician speak, I just hear "blah, blah, lies, blah, nonsense, blah, blah".