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Author Topic: Tricksy multiple negatives  (Read 1435 times)

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Offline Jonathon

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Tricksy multiple negatives
« on: January 08, 2007, 05:54:35 PM »
Language Log has had some great posts on negation, particularly on mind-bending examples of overnegation and undernegation. We're probably all familiar with examples like "I don't like nobody," but they get a lot slipper and harder to catch when you start using words that are implicitly negative. Here's a relatively straightforward one I just noticed in this article:

Quote
Meeting with reporters at the auto show Sunday, GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner denied that the effort to put the Volt's "plug-in hybrid" technology in showrooms by 2010 is not just a marketing ploy, saying GM is spending too much money and resources on the effort simply to change the company's image and alter public perception.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2007, 05:57:30 PM by Jon Boy »
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Offline Porter

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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #1 on: January 08, 2007, 06:57:43 PM »
I get annoyed at how some people enforce the "no double negatives" rule in English as it's an immutable law that "I don't get no beans" is the same thing as "I get beans".  
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Offline Jonathon

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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #2 on: January 08, 2007, 08:54:14 PM »
I think there's a significant difference between simple multiple negatives like that and the more complicated implicit multiple negatives like the one in the example. The simple kind are usually a dialectal feature, while the complicated kind are presumably the result of a writer or speaker losing track of how many negatives they've used. The interesting thing is that readers or listeners are just as likely to miss them simply because of the difficulty in parsing them.

By the way, you might be interested in Language Myths. It's written for a non-expert audience, so it doesn't get too technical, and it covers a lot of good topics, one of which is "Double Negatives Are Illogical." My only problem with it is that it didn't go as in-depth as it could have (because of the intended audience), and some of the arguments in a few chapters were somewhat weak and flawed.
« Last Edit: January 08, 2007, 08:57:53 PM by Jon Boy »
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Offline Porter

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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #3 on: January 08, 2007, 09:33:17 PM »
I wish my library had that book. :(
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Offline Jonathon

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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #4 on: January 08, 2007, 09:40:26 PM »
Maybe I could send you my copy when I'm finished with it (which should be soon).
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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #5 on: January 08, 2007, 09:41:47 PM »
I would love that. :)
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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #6 on: January 09, 2007, 03:17:28 PM »
Here's a great (intentional) convoluted multiple negative that I had forgotten about but just saw again:
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Just because we have chiseled abs and stunning features, it doesn't mean that we too can't not die in a freak gasoline fight accident.
« Last Edit: January 09, 2007, 03:17:43 PM by Jon Boy »
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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #7 on: January 09, 2007, 04:24:10 PM »
That guy usually bugs the heck out of me, but help me, I laugh so hard at that movie.
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Offline pooka

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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #8 on: January 10, 2007, 09:56:17 AM »
:lol:   Yeah, that was a good one.  But the implied group sex kind of ruined it for me.  I can't believe how many people don't mention that about The DaVinci Code.
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Tricksy multiple negatives
« Reply #9 on: August 23, 2007, 08:47:06 PM »
*bump*

Here's one I just saw in a comment on Lynne Johnston's blog:
Quote
WE WILL MISS NOT GETTING TO SEE THEM GROW OLDER AND WISER!!
I find this kind of thing fascinating. How is it that we sometimes produce statements that meaning the opposite of what we intend, that we usually don't even think twice about them, and that everyone understands the intended meaning? It's bizarre.
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