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?
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
"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
RE: Double Negatives
Regards,
Mike
RE: Double Negatives
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RE: Double Negatives
RE: Double Negatives
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 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
Bill
RE: Double Negatives
"Yeah, right"
RE: Double Negatives
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
RE: Double Negatives
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.