LL-L "Syntax" 2002.12.17 (09) [E]

[Lowlands-L]

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From: Global Moose Translations globalmoose at t-online.de
Subject: LL-L "Syntax" 2002.12.16 (08) [E]

> Gabrielle, please give me an example of a "double positive" in a sentence.
> I am very interested.

Ross,
the example of the double positive was the exclamation at the end of the
little anecdote: "Yeah, right!" Those are two positives, and together they
express that the speaker does not believe what has been said, thus the
opposite of what "yeah" or "right" would have meant by themselves. Of
course, since this is conveyed merely by sarcasm, it's not really an
equivalent of two negatives cancelling each other out. Still, I like the
little story.

Here's an example of a double negative used tongue-in-cheek by Wilhelm
Busch, the great Lower Saxon poet and painter (who wrote in both Platt and
High German):

"Drum merk': bei Damen sollst du fein
gar niemals nicht ironisch sein!"

("So keep in mind - don't you never be ironic with the ladies").

Cheers,
Gabriele

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