"Anxious to" versus "eager to"

A copy editor friend of mine once told me that instead of saying for example "I'm anxious to see the new movie," I should say "I'm eager to see the new movie."

This seemed logical to me—after all, there's no anxiety involved in my desire to see the new movie. But I've noticed that almost no one, including speakers whose language skills I admire, talks this way. Most people (in my experience) say "anxious to" even in situations when they are clearly feeling eager and not anxious.

I'm interested to hear other people's opinions on this. Is it a British/American difference?

ADDED:

Nohat's response below answers my question: The non-anxious sense of "anxious to" is common enough to have made it into at least some dictionaries. I note that the New Oxford American Dictionary (bundled with Mac OS X) doesn't include this sense of "anxious to". In fact they have a usage note that reads

Anxious and eager both mean 'looking forward to something,' but they have different connotations. Eager suggests enthusiasm about something, a positive outlook: : I'm eager to get started on my vacation. Anxious implies worry about something: : I'm anxious to get started before it rains.

So apparently there is not consensus amongst dictionary editors.

Solution 1:

Merriam-Webster give sense 3 for anxious: “ardently or earnestly wishing <anxious to learn more>”.

Solution 2:

Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage has a page of quotes showing anxious being used with the meaning "eager", by writers like Carroll, Byron, Melville, Dickens, Stevenson.

Their conclusion:

Anyone who says that careful writers do not use anxious in its "eager" sense has simply not examined the available evidence.

Solution 3:

Where are you located? This may be a British/American difference, or it may just be a matter of regional dialect. I'm a native speaker of American English (New England region, primarily Connecticut) and would always say "eager to".

Solution 4:

I would add that using "anxious" in place of "eager" does seem to be more common in speaking. Written English seems to still recognize the nuance. I've noticed the "anxious" used in many locations, so I don't think it is an American versus British issue.

I agree that your use of "eager" is more appropriate because you do not experience anxiety. This particular word choice has always stood out to me because of the book An Incomplete Education, which I first read in junior high school. There is a section where they discuss commonly confused words and give (hilarious) stories to illustrate the difference. "Anxious" versus "Eager" was my favorite by far, and has caused any misuse to stand out to me.

Rough quote of the illustration from memory: "You are not anxious to have dinner with oldest married friends; you are eager to have dinner with them. That is unless you have been sleeping with one of them for the past six months. In that case you ARE anxious."