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Double Negatives
2

Double Negatives

Double Negatives

(OP)
I've often heard speakers use the phrase "it's not uncommon to find ...".  Hearing the "not" and "un" back to back suggests it's a double negative, yet if you turn it around to something like "it's common to find ...". that seems to overstate the intent.

There's other example like the Tom Jones song, It's Not Unusual.  The positive spin to It's Usual doesn't have the same ring to it.

I guess the real meaning of not uncommon is something like it's more of a rare occurence, but it does happen, but not to the other extreme of being common.

Does that make sense?

RE: Double Negatives

This form of understatement of using a "double negative" is called "litotes"(pronounced LEI-TO-teez). The speaker strengthens or weakens the emphasis of a statement, by negating its opposite, rather than by making the direct claim. In typical cases, the "double negative" results in a claim that is not as forceful as the simple, un-negated case; e.g.:

"It was no minor matter" (meaning “It was a relatively major matter”, rather than "It was a major issue").

"She is not unlike her mother" (meaning "She is quite like her mother", rather than "She is just like her mother").

RE: Double Negatives

I don't never use 'em.

Regards,

Mike

RE: Double Negatives

While I don't dislike this linguistic construction, I'm not thrilled with it either.

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RE: Double Negatives

magoo2 - I don't agree that "not uncommon" would imply a rare occurrence - although it sometimes happens. I would suggest that it means something like "quite" common.

RE: Double Negatives

I think statements like "It's not uncommon to...." implies that while you may think it wouldn't be commonplace it actually *is* common.

Almost like using fact to debunk an urban myth:

"I had an e-mail the other day saying that this bloke wrote-off his Winnebago by turning on the cruise control and going into the back to make himself a coffee! He won a million dollars in compo and a new Winnebago"

"That's never happened, there are no cases on record and your cousin's sister's wife's third aunt removed who sent you that is a drunk who tells lies to children."


I have to sit in the kitchen at parties.

RE: Double Negatives

"It's not uncommon to...."

It's not EXACTLY common, but it's not uncommon.  It's just somewhere on the lower end of the scale of things you'd expect.

Usually used while explaining to a client that the very expensive "fix" just applied at great inconvenience does not, in fact, "fix" anything...

old field guy

RE: Double Negatives

I don't not never use it Guv'nor.

Bill

RE: Double Negatives

And when the teacher said "And even though double negatives exist, a double positive will never mean a negative", a small voice muttered from the back........


"Yeah, right"

RE: Double Negatives

I'm gonna fight off the urge to deconstruct that joke from a linguistic standpoint...

Hg

Eng-Tips policies:  FAQ731-376

RE: Double Negatives


Examples from dictionaries:

• He's not exactly sober.
• This is no small problem.

RE: Double Negatives

Tom Jones singing "It's not unusual to be loved by anyone..."

RE: Double Negatives

A different use of something close to a double negative ...


Late Last Night
by Slim Harpo

Late last night, laying down in my bed alone,
Late last night, laying down in my bed alone,
Well I was thinking about my baby,
Wondering why she won't do me wrong.


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