another (over)negation?

[Bill Palmer]

During my travelling days, and after 9/11, the public address system at DFW
airport would make an announcement every 10 minutes that:

"Passengers are warned not to accept packages from strangers without their
knowledge"

I think I knew what they meant, but the phrasing always sounded so tortured.

Bill Palmer
----- Original Message -----
From: "Jonathan Lighter" <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, November 06, 2010 6:27 PM
Subject: Re: another (over)negation?


> ---------------------- Information from the mail
> header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: another (over)negation?
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Some people just can't handle more than one negative in a sentence. (I
> don't
> mean "double negatives" in the usual sense; I mean short-attention-span
> syntax.)
>
> I've heard similar confused statements on the news a number of times in
> the
> last few weeks. It's almost as though a new "rule" is being created in the
> spirit of, but more insidious than, "is-is."
>
> JL
>
> On Sat, Nov 6, 2010 at 3:35 PM, Victor Steinbok
> <aardvark66 at gmail.com>wrote:
>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>> Poster:       Victor Steinbok <aardvark66 at GMAIL.COM>
>> Subject:      another (over)negation?
>>
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> Twitter from Chuck Todd (NBC News):
>>
>> > Cannot believe reports about bogus cost of president's trip didn't
>> > pass smell test with so many folks. Ridiculous that it got any traction
>>
>> I thought "not passing the smell test" was "being unbelievable". He
>> seems to imply just the opposite here--too many people /believed/ the
>> bogus report.
>>
>>     VS-)
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>>
>
>
>
> --
> "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
>
> -----
> No virus found in this message.
> Checked by AVG - www.avg.com
> Version: 10.0.1153 / Virus Database: 424/3240 - Release Date: 11/05/10
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org