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Dennis Skinner, member of the British House of Commons, once said in a speech that "half the Tories opposite are crooks!". When asked to withdraw the statement,
by rvense 10y ago
Dennis Skinner, member of the British House of Commons, once said in a speech that "half the Tories opposite are crooks!". When asked to withdraw the statement, he said "OK, half the Tories opposite aren't crooks."
So in the presence of 'half', even 'not' can be unpredictable...
- gfaure 10y agoAmusing... but this isn't the same kind of ambiguity as he intentionally made the negation have the wrong scope. The expected negation would be "It is not the case that half the Tories opposite are crooks".
- rvense 10y agoBut haven't you then still left the crook-edness of the other half unstated and suspiciously ambiguous?