Racial epithet makes news

[Victor Steinbok]

  No--I just don't see it as a formal double negation, at least, not in
the same sense. What about "did not fail to notice"? Is that a double
negative? As far as I know, the customary proscription does not apply to
"integral" negatives, such as "unhappy" or "fail".

     VS-)

PS: somehow I lost track of the "l". I like "spit infinitive" too, but,
unfortunately, it was merely a typo.

On 7/7/2010 1:44 PM, Laurence Horn wrote:
> At 1:29 PM -0400 7/7/10, Victor Steinbok wrote:
>>   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-)
> I like the "spit infinitive" (not to be confused with "spit ('n')
> image"), but are you really claiming you don't have e.g. "not
> unhappy" in your normal repertoire?
>
> LH
>

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