Tim and Bill--
Thanks for your replies! And Tim, I certainly did not mean  to imply anything 
about 'correctness'!  Regional variations  in usage are interesting to me, 
and I'd never heard this one before.
 
It strikes me that this usage represents a kind of broadened meaning of  this 
verb in this Southern dialect (and perhaps it holds for other verbs as  
well).  The participant in the 'meaning' event is actively doing the  meaning--do 
you know what I mean?  For me to 'mean' something is different  than for me to 
'be meaning' something.  The progressive demands more  intention and more 
activity to the event expressed by the verb, particularly  when you've got a human 
participant in the subject position.  
 
And maybe that is the difference for me:  A word means, a painting  means, a 
statement means--but these inanimate things cannot 'be meaning'  something, 
right?  interesting. So humans who 'mean' can do so in  perhaps measurable 
stages or in events which progress over time, so that at any  single moment, a 
human can 'be meaning' one thing instead of another.
 
I know, I'm wierd to find this interesting. Thanks again for the  insights! 
 
Linda DiDesidero 

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