tlhIngan-Hol Archive: Mon Nov 30 12:46:43 2009
[Date Prev][Date Next][Thread Prev][Thread Next]
Re: Double negatives
- From: Christopher Doty <[email protected]>
- Subject: Re: Double negatives
- Date: Mon, 30 Nov 2009 12:45:26 -0800
- Dkim-signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha256; c=relaxed/relaxed; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=domainkey-signature:mime-version:received:in-reply-to:references :from:date:message-id:subject:to:content-type :content-transfer-encoding; bh=dwArkx7Y2fUI0ptry0tY2084SUlutt/gk9J0BIIyO5w=; b=KBnZ6GYgA+uYlXNpc0xVsjajzepr8XGqRKIpWT0CLCt/RF5R8mjshrn5rVSOTjmTGq PLfInVvptm3KSFf+jQI5Wnp8+AZYZtKIaqlInD3+Z0n5WeOjORWIpnVeQopBqSubDg7w bgXmXvfpWjBU+qVIBoMdA4M68A7d7/Ny24Vhw=
- Domainkey-signature: a=rsa-sha1; c=nofws; d=gmail.com; s=gamma; h=mime-version:in-reply-to:references:from:date:message-id:subject:to :content-type:content-transfer-encoding; b=LKcxGdOW9spvlLobsP7GNOSauw3u1sL6XWjT0ezXm8Q/wye7m2PBmYw/2rIaUNvbhH 5Z1LSbwKm9ndT793W5vJjFGFu57x2gQIb6w35dSqggNqnDh3Df/HFHkRBodfSQPLwEKW D2Ghx1p9OCmt0chdBPOCuZc3rDakX08a5d6TU=
- In-reply-to: <[email protected]>
- References: <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]> <[email protected]>
Fair enough, I suppose, but I think lots of English teachers actually
do say that they cancel, as do others (see, e.g., the present
discussion).
On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 12:37, David Trimboli <[email protected]> wrote:
> ghunchu'wI' 'utlh wrote:
>> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 1:39 PM, Christopher Doty <[email protected]> wrote:
>>> On Mon, Nov 30, 2009 at 06:29, ghunchu'wI' 'utlh <[email protected]> wrote:
>>>> Double negatives in Klingon appear to act the way they do in Standard
>>>> English, with one negating the other and yielding an affirmative
>>>> meaning.
>>> This doesn't happen in Standard English, and it is stupid to say so.
>>
>> Did I err in using the name "Standard English" to refer to the strict
>> grammatical rules taught in school? Or did my English teachers err in
>> telling me that double negatives essentially cancel?
>
> Actually, the argument made by English teachers is that double negatives
> *would* cancel each other out *if they were allowed*, which is why
> they're *not* allowed. The argument is false, of course, but it's
> probably easier to say that than to get eight-year-old children to
> understand deeper mysteries of linguistics. The teachers themselves
> usually don't know any better either.
>
> --
> SuStel
> tlhIngan Hol MUSH
> http://trimboli.name/mush
>
>
>
>