Those pesky negatives (revisited)

[Wilson Gray]

On Aug 10, 2004, at 12:34 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Those pesky negatives (revisited)
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>
>> larry,
>
>
> I have the sneaking suspicion that some not familiar with the sense
> of "negative" you use here may have trouble finding three; I offer
> the following translation:
>
> They've NOT ever NOT continued to NOT live up to our expectations.

Almost. They've NOT ever NOT continued NOT to live up to our
expectations.

_That_ is right.

But, seriously, folks, I've been completely blind-sided by what seems
to me to be the out-of-nowhere emergence of the "splitting of an
infinitive" by inserting "not" that has now become common. I've racked
my brain and I can't recall that I was ever taught a prescriptive rule
against this. (FWIW, I've read only one prescriptive grammar in my life
and the only thing that I remember about it is that it was a green
hardcover, was written by a Jesuit, and was published by Loyola
University Press, Chicago.) There was no need for a rule against it
because NOBODY EVER DID IT! For all practical purposes, I never lived
anywhere but Saint Louis for the first quarter-century of my life.
Perhaps the non-occurrence of "to not VERB" was just a local phenomenon
or something. Oh, well.

-Wilson Gray

>
> Is that right?
>
> dInIs
>
>
>
>> 3 negatives = 1 positive?
>>
>> larry
>> =================
>>
>> The New York Times
>> August 10, 2004, D3
>> HEADLINE: Showalter Builds Another Team Into a Contender
>> by JACK CURRY
>>
>>  Buck Showalter is doing it again. He is breathing and he is building
>> a contending baseball team, so he has his priorities covered. He can
>> keep them covered by constructing and cajoling the Texas Rangers, and
>> trying to go to a World Series, someplace he has never been.
>>
>>  The Rangers are already in a rarefied place, where they were not
>> supposed to be: they are challenging for first place in the American
>> League West and for the wild card. After the Rangers unloaded Alex
>> Rodriguez to the Yankees for Alfonso Soriano in an embarrassing
>> salary dump, they were expected to crawl to a fourth straight
>> last-place finish. No A-Rod? No way.
>>
>>  But the Rangers have performed like a revived team, a team that
>> Showalter said was looser, a team that is not centered on one special
>> player. Rodriguez has left. But Showalter, whom Rodriguez has called
>> a former manager but not a friend, has not. There are no power
>> struggles this season. Showalter's all-consuming style has the
>> Rangers winning and dreaming.
>>
>>  ''We have a thing with the coaching staff where we say, 'Let's go
>> out and see what the boys have in store for us tonight,''' said the
>> 48-year-old Showalter, who is in his second season with the team.
>> ''They've never ceased to let us down.''
>
>
> --
> Dennis R. Preston
> University Distinguished Professor
> Department of Linguistics and Germanic, Slavic,
>         Asian and African Languages
> Wells Hall A-740
> Michigan State University
> East Lansing, MI 48824-1027 USA
> Office: (517) 353-0740
> Fax: (517) 432-2736
>