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