Those pesky negatives (revisited)

[Wilson Gray]

Actually, I forgot to add the appropriate smileys. I'm not taking it as
seriously as I may have seemed. I'm retired with nothing to do,
basically, after I've finished changing the cats' litterbox and taken
out the trash. So, I sometimes put more ardor into my postings than the
situation calls for. Like, I don't have underlings to kick around
anymore, so I have a lot of psychic energy with no way to expend it.

What interests me about "to not verb" is that it seems to have come out
of nowhere. Most of the stuff that prescriptivists rail against has
been around for generations, if not centuries. But, AFAIK, no
prescriptivists of the old school have included "to *not* verb" in the
class of "split infinitives" because it simply didn't exist in their
day. But why and how did it come into existence? What motivated it? It
really "bugs my head," as used to be said.

Another thing that I've noticed that is new to me is the use of the
"wrong" preposition, such as "he was beaten by a baseball bat" as
opposed to the "correct" form, "he was beaten with a baseball bat."
These have become so common that even I occasionally find myself using
the *wrong" preposition. But only in speech, needless to say. I never
miswrite, of course.;-)

-Wilson Gray

On Aug 10, 2004, at 3:23 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: Those pesky negatives (revisited)
> -----------------------------------------------------------------------
> --------
>
> Wilson,
>
> We got different notions of 'right.' That's OK, but it's also the
> case that I was not be idiomatic in my "translation." I also very
> infrequently use to+not+v, but I am not so unfond of it as you appear
> to be.
>
> dInIs
>
>> On Aug 10, 2004, at 12:34 PM, Dennis R. Preston wrote:
>>
>>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>> -----------------------
>>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>>> Poster:       "Dennis R. Preston" <preston at MSU.EDU>
>>> Subject:      Re: Those pesky negatives (revisited)
>>> ---------------------------------------------------------------------
>>> --
>>> --------
>>>
>>>> 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
>
>
> --
> 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
>