Racial epithet makes news

[Victor Steinbok]

  I should also note that I /habitually/ use the combination "there is
no reason not to X", although it may be the only double-negative in my
normal repertoire (unless I want to specifically highlight the double
negation--as I have just done with a spit infinitive).

     VS-)

On 7/7/2010 1:06 PM, Arnold Zwicky wrote:
> On Jul 7, 2010, at 9:48 AM, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>
>> ... I give no discount for ignorance. There is no reason to call someone on
>> a stupid statement just because he's unaware of it being offensive.
> POTENTIAL UNDERNEGATION ALERT!
>
> i'm pretty sure Victor meant what i would frame as "There is no reason not to call someone on a stupid statement just because ..."
>
> note that Victor's version has an explicit negation. in "no reason INF" and, in "call someone on X", an idiom with negative tone (similar to "object to X"), so maybe for some people that's enough negativity to go around.  that is,  maybe this one has become conventionalized for some people.
>
> arnold

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