> as lemmas

1847 T. P. Prest Jew & Foundling xlv. 342 Things aint now as they used to be. You're always denied, though I know well enough that you're at home.

1850 Lit. Amer. 5 Jan. 10/1 Ah, me! 'tis changed, and I know no cause, But ‘things ain't now as they used to was’.

1869 J. Greenwood Seven Curses London xiv. 246 Things ain't wot they was one time.

1889 D. C. Murray Schwartz II. 115 ‘Things ain't what they used to be when you an' me was younger,’ said Mrs. Mountain.

1926 Musical Opinion Nov. in K. Koenig Jazz in Print (1856–1929) (2002) 492/1 ‘Things aren't what they were!.. they never were!’ There is a rich truth in this well-known paradoxical witticism.

1928 Princeton Alumni Weekly 24 May 985/1 A careful study of the replies made to the various questions..reveals just two irrefutable facts, namely: (1) Things aren't what they used to be; and (2) Things are just what they used to be.

1944 Michigan Technic Oct. 19/3 No, we're afraid things aren't as they used to be. Perhaps reminiscing wasn't too good an idea after all.

1959 P. De Vries Tents of Wickedness 6 Nostalgia, as his Uncle Joshua had said, ain't what it used to be... Nothing was what it used to be—not even nostalgia.

1960 L. Bart Fings ain't wot they used T'be (song lyrics) 23 Fings ain't wot they used T'be. There used to be class Doin' the town, buying a bit o' vice.

1980 G. M. Fraser Mr American xx. 388 Sir Harry..remarked that things weren't what they had once been.

2014 Daily Tel. (Nexis) 8 Nov. (Review section) 35 Would he subscribe to the view that things aren't what they used to be? ‘No, just the reverse. I think things have been improving all the time.’