4 ms·

I have seen such double negative at many places, to represent strong negative. Don't know if it is some trend!

nosianu 5y ago
Funnily enough, in Russian the double negative is completely normal and that is a normal way to express many negatives. It always triggers my brain when I have to say a double negative in Russian, "just do it, it's completely normal, don't worry about it..." (inner feeling-based monologue). https://www.russiantutoring.com/post/double-negation-in-russian-when-one-person-s-no-is-another-s-yes https://www.russiantutoring.com/post/double-negation-in-russ...
- Latty 5y ago
  Reminds me of a classic linguistics joke (I assume from a Tom Scott video given where I encounter linguistics the most): A professor is lecturing on linguistics: "In English a double negative has a positive meaning. However, in some languages—such as Russian—a double negative still has a negative meaning. There isn't, however, a language in which a double positive holds a negative meaning." A student in the back responds: "Yeah, right."
  - ratzkewatzke 5y ago
    This is widely attributed to Sidney Morgenbesser (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Morgenbesser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Morgenbesser).
  - eyelidlessness 5y ago
    This reminds me of ruminations with a friend about the nuance of combined positive/negative affirmations. Eg “no yeah” used as an emphatic agreement in the positive, and “yeah no” an emphatic agreement in the negative.
- mananaysiempre 5y ago
  The high-brow name for this syntactic gadget is “negative concord”[1], and Wikipedia lists plenty of languages that have it[2] (including several European ones and even Old English!). [1] http://glottopedia.org/index.php/Negative_concord http://glottopedia.org/index.php/Negative_concord [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative
eyelidlessness 5y ago
It’s fairly common usage in the US southeast, and in AAVE. Regarding it as poor grammar rather than an evolution of dialect is a matter of (snobbish) taste more than anything.
- jsmith45 5y ago
  One major problem with it is that even in those dialects, a double negative can also be a positive, and outside of some semi-fixed constructs that mandate one or the other interpretation in that dialect, the distinction relies things like tone and/or stress/emphasis, which of course are lost in writing. This makes it rather unwise to use in writing, unless context clearly dictates one interpretation.
- anderskaseorg 5y ago
  The more northern dialects are infected with certain negation-related illogicalities too. Consider this New York Times headline: “All Options Are Not on the Table as Biden Moves Troops Closer to Ukraine” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/politics/biden-ukraine-russia-war.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/politics/biden-ukraine... which should have been “Not All Options Are on the Table”, since the intended interpretation is ¬∀ option, on(option, table) rather than the very different ∀ option, ¬on(option, table).
  - eyelidlessness 5y ago
    I am never not confused by this.

Funnily enough, in Russian the double negative is completely normal and that is a normal way to express many negatives. It always triggers my brain when I have to say a double negative in Russian, "just do it, it's completely normal, don't worry about it..." (inner feeling-based monologue). https://www.russiantutoring.com/post/double-negation-in-russian-when-one-person-s-no-is-another-s-yes https://www.russiantutoring.com/post/double-negation-in-russ...

Latty 5y ago
Reminds me of a classic linguistics joke (I assume from a Tom Scott video given where I encounter linguistics the most): A professor is lecturing on linguistics: "In English a double negative has a positive meaning. However, in some languages—such as Russian—a double negative still has a negative meaning. There isn't, however, a language in which a double positive holds a negative meaning." A student in the back responds: "Yeah, right."
- ratzkewatzke 5y ago
  This is widely attributed to Sidney Morgenbesser (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Morgenbesser https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sidney_Morgenbesser).
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  This reminds me of ruminations with a friend about the nuance of combined positive/negative affirmations. Eg “no yeah” used as an emphatic agreement in the positive, and “yeah no” an emphatic agreement in the negative.
mananaysiempre 5y ago
The high-brow name for this syntactic gadget is “negative concord”[1], and Wikipedia lists plenty of languages that have it[2] (including several European ones and even Old English!). [1] http://glottopedia.org/index.php/Negative_concord http://glottopedia.org/index.php/Negative_concord [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative

eyelidlessness 5y ago

It’s fairly common usage in the US southeast, and in AAVE. Regarding it as poor grammar rather than an evolution of dialect is a matter of (snobbish) taste more than anything.

jsmith45 5y ago
One major problem with it is that even in those dialects, a double negative can also be a positive, and outside of some semi-fixed constructs that mandate one or the other interpretation in that dialect, the distinction relies things like tone and/or stress/emphasis, which of course are lost in writing. This makes it rather unwise to use in writing, unless context clearly dictates one interpretation.
anderskaseorg 5y ago
The more northern dialects are infected with certain negation-related illogicalities too. Consider this New York Times headline: “All Options Are Not on the Table as Biden Moves Troops Closer to Ukraine” https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/politics/biden-ukraine-russia-war.html https://www.nytimes.com/2022/02/05/us/politics/biden-ukraine... which should have been “Not All Options Are on the Table”, since the intended interpretation is ¬∀ option, on(option, table) rather than the very different ∀ option, ¬on(option, table).
- eyelidlessness 5y ago
  I am never not confused by this.