LL-L "Idiomatica" 2014.01.04 (01) [EN]

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 L O W L A N D S - L - 04 January 2014 - Volume 01
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From: Paul Finlow-Bates <wolf_thunder51 at yahoo.co.uk>
Subject: LL-L "Literature" 2014.01.03 (01) [EN]

I think (2) is classic double negative for emphasis: 'I ain't no way doing
that!'
(1) sounds just plain wrong!

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From: M.-L. Lessing <marless at gmx.de>
Subject: LL-L "Idiomatica" 2014.01.03 (02) [EN]

Happy new year, dear Ron and all!

The expressions you name do surprise me. While the second example looks
like a sort of double negation and may be quite intelligible in any
context, your first example "I could care less" is something I would have
taken literally, had I ever heard it; i.e. I would have translated it as
"yes, that means something to me" or even, depending on accentuation, as
a Litotes, meaning "This means a lot to me, I care immensely, this is the
apple of my eye to me". I might have been pretty confused in certain
contexts!!! Frustrating. Language ought to be reliable and reasonable, if
not logical. What if somebody uses the words (quite correctly) like this
and is misunderstood? I'd put the blame on those people who twisted the
meaning of the phrase into its opposite.

And so I'm already doing the finest thing humans can do: putting the blame
on somebody! Wow, the year starts fine :-)

Hartlich

Marlou

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