split infinitive with "not" (1862)

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:30 AM -0800 2/6/08, Benjamin Lukoff wrote:
>These don't look like split infinitives to me.

I think the implicit claim is that split infinitives (try to not do
that) are clearer than the indicated examples (try not to do that).
I disagree with the claim that "try not to" is likely to be
interpreted with wide scope post-verbal negation (as in the
archaizing JFK example, or "I know not the man", or "I kid you not"),
but that's certainly a conceivable interpretation (= 'don't try to'),
while the split infinitive can't be interpreted that way, and it's
reasonable to see that ambiguity avoidance as a factor (maybe not the
decisive factor) in the "V to not VP" construction.  (Note that
neither of the "ask not what..." or "go not to that..." examples
alternate with split infinitives the way the "try not to" examples
do, so the argument doesn't quite go through as it's stated.)

LH

>
>On Wed, 6 Feb 2008, Tom Zurinskas wrote:
>
>>  Just a quick thought, but sometimes I think split infinitives are
>>  clearer, and clearer is better.
>>
>>  Ask not what your country can do for you.
>>  Go not to that bad place.
>>  Try not to do the wrong thing.
>>
>>  "Try not" seems to indicate "don't try" just as "ask not" means
>>"don't ask."  In reality if you say "Try to not do the wrong thing"
>>means focusing on active avoidance.
>>
>>  Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL5+
>>  See truespel.com - and the 4 truespel books plus "Occasional
>>Poems" at authorhouse.com.
>>
>>  > Date: Tue, 5 Feb 2008 17:02:01 -0500
>>  > From: hwgray at GMAIL.COM
>>  > Subject: Re: split infinitive with "not" (1862)
>>  > To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>  >
>>  > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  > Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  > Poster: Wilson Gray
>>  > Subject: Re: split infinitive with "not" (1862)
>>  >
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >
>>  > Damn it, Jon! You had to find it, didn't you? You would probably even
>>  > kill Kenny, given the chance. :-)
>>  >
>>  > Well, as Richard Pryor might have put it, "Nevertheless, 'to not' is
>>  > unreal, an' I ain't goin' fo' it!" ;-)
>>  >
>>  > -Wilson
>>  >
>>  > On 2/5/08, Jonathan Lighter  wrote:
>>  >> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>>-----------------------
>>  >> Sender: American Dialect Society
>>  >> Poster: Jonathan Lighter
>>  >> Subject: split infinitive with "not" (1862)
>>  >>
>>-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>  >>
>>  >> 1862 in Bell I. Wiley _The Life of Johnny Reb_ (Indianapolis:
>>Bobbs-Merrill, 1943) 127: I still advise you and as strongly as
>>ever to not come to the war. I tell you you will repent it if you
>>do I do believe.
>>  >>
>>  >> Perhaps the feature originated as an emphatic form. This
>>letter-writer was fom Alabama.
>>  >>
>>  >> JL
>>  >>
>>  >>
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