possibly this is just recency phenomenon in which case it's still just as annoying*

[cimorene]

Is it just me or is "was sat" erroneously occurring in non-British fanfic narration on the rise over time?

*that is to say, very annoying, but not as annoying as "whilst"

Comments

[mrkinch]

I thought it was just me going, what? and that it was one of many language shifts taking place while I wasn't noticing.

[cimorene]

I have noticed it more in recent fiction, but it seems doubtful that it could really be a new construction... my tentative hypothesis is that it is a feature of spoken language that doesn't belong to the standard written forms and is more common in written language with younger users, so its appearances are increasing as new young fans start writing (and continue writing more).