we can't not go

[Michael McKernan]

Dale Coye wrote:

>This is what my wife said to me this morning: "But we can't not go"  meaning
>(more or less) 'we have to go'     I had just been thinking of Larry's list of
>examples including:
>
>You can not go to the party.               (it's up to you)
>You {cannot/can't} go to the party.   (sorry about that)
>
>I don't think anyone could say *But we cannot not go."

Rightly or wrongly, I do think that someone could say this phrase, for
particular emphasis, perhaps in an argumental exchange such as:

A: 'But we can't not go!'
B: 'Oh, yes we can!' ['not go' understood, affirming the second half of the
double negative!]
A: 'No. We...cannot...not...go!'

And I would say that your wife's remark would be better interpreted as 'for
us, the option of not going does not exist', rather than the much simpler
form 'we have to go' (your interpretation is  weighted toward the 'less' of
your 'more or less').


Michael McKernan