Just wondering why people would admit to being involved in an incident by saying that they did something and ridiculously behave otherwise.
2007-10-16 19:51:14 · 7 answers · asked by jace 4 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
i've heard these things before, i just wonder how it all started.
2007-10-17 15:24:00 · update #1
Ain't you never heard a double-negative before? People have been using this form for long enough for our grandparents to say things like, "Two negatives make a positive." It has always been very common in the US, though it tends to be seen as sloppy speech.
Let's practice:
I didn't do nuthin'
I ain't seen nuthin'
I never heard nuthin'
I cain't hardly hear you.
Don't use this form!
Not now, not never!!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Double_negative
PS: Note that in the article above, it doesn't really say the origin, but I suspect English forms came from the Romance and Germanic languages, which allowed for double negation.
2007-10-16 20:04:31 · answer #1 · answered by Insanity 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
IGNORANCE. Obviously they are meaning that they either did nothing, or they didn't do anything. The use of double negatives is becoming frightfully common in modern English.
People who use this phrase either don't understand the grammatical concepts behind using the negative, or they speak incorrectly in order to look "cool".
2007-10-16 20:19:30 · answer #2 · answered by Lady Ivy 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Here's an article from Time Magazine on the subject...I hope you find it informative...
Monday, Aug. 18, 1952
http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,816718,00.html
2007-10-16 19:59:50 · answer #3 · answered by General Zod 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Ebonics 101 ; )
2007-10-16 20:13:41 · answer #4 · answered by redmane_at_stargazer 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The movies.
2007-10-16 19:53:07 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
the man, the one and only, Robert De Niro
2007-10-20 18:35:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
illiteracy.
2007-10-17 05:05:30 · answer #7 · answered by hakim1125 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋