usage of adverbial "all"

All about all

Apr 6th 2011, 16:43 by R.L.G. | NEW YORK

Christine Cavalier (@purplecar on Twitter) asks about "adverbial 'all'", as in "She was all mad" and "He was like, bleck, and all".  She asked Language Log; Ben Zimmer, it turns out, had posted on "all" + adjective + "-y" ("all Olympic-y", "all judgy") in 2006.  But here, a more direct stab at her subject.

First, as usual with this kind of "I've just noticed..." phenomenon, "all" as an adverb is plenty old: the OED lists, for example

(1425)    Oryg. Cron. Scotl. (Royal) vi. 493   Hyr chyld-ill al suddanly Travalyd hyr sa angyrly.

and

1793    R. Southey Triumph of Woman 63, in Wks. II. 7   All hopelessly our years of sorrow flow.

I think Ms Cavalier is thinking of a certain teen usage that I've seen myself, but similar usages go back. I can almost hear a bored kid at the mall moaning "My years of sorrow have flowed all hopelessly, you know?" Its meaning doesn't seem to have changed much, but there may be a new lilt to it.
"And all" gets its own sub-entry:

 c.and all: and everything else, and everything connected therewith, et cetera; hence , Too, also, as well (especially in dial. speech; Sc. ‘Woo'd an' married an' a'’).

I think that last bit is supposed to be a Scottish example: "Wooed and married and all."  Other citations include

a1554    J. Croke tr. Thirteen Psalms (1844) li. 18   The walles, and all, shalbe made newe...
1828    Scott Fair Maid of Perth v, in Chron. Canongate 2nd Ser. I. 133   With smithy, bellows, tongs, anvil, and all.

I'm intrigued by yet another "all".  The characters in the wonderfully bizarre web comic Achewood use "all" in a way I haven't seen elswhere.  Discussing the pros and cons of a camping trip, hard-living Ray and straight man Roast Beef argue back and forth:

Ray: All laughin' and tellin' lies.
Roast Beef [whose sentences never end in full stops]:  All eatin' eggs out of the pan  The eggs all not cooked all the way  All ashes in the egg.
Ray:  All meetin' some ladies! Invitin' 'em to our tent!
Roast Beef:  All asleep with tarantulas on my face  You all passed out and spoonin' me

Achewood is set in California.  I don't know if this kind of "all" is native there, or native only to the strip.  Any ideas from readers? The OED doesn't include this kind of "all". (Not yet, at least.)

*American usage, "don't get all hung over him like that".

Source: http://www.economist.com/blogs/johnson/2011/04/slang