another (over)negation?

[Jonathan Lighter]

It's more than tortured; it's crazy.

One can only understand it through a background awareness of what prompted
it.

JL

On Sun, Nov 7, 2010 at 10:47 AM, Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at bellsouth.net>wrote:

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> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Bill Palmer <w_a_palmer at BELLSOUTH.NET>
> Subject:      Re: another (over)negation?
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> 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?
>
>
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> > 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:
> >
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> >> 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-)
> >>
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> >
> > --
> > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> > truth."
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--
"If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the truth."

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