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From: alan@dragon.acadiau.ca (Alan McKay)
Subject: Re: Double Negatives
Message-ID: <1995Aug14.171337.232@relay.acadiau.ca>
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Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 17:13:37 GMT
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2bk5rohand@vms.csd.mu.edu writes:

>Since it's a song, I suppose a double negative is OK, but this seems 
>to be just plain confusing.

In my own opinion, I think that the rules of double negatives (in
English) are idiotic.  It is nothing more than an arbitrary decision
made by someone who attempted to apply the rules of logic to a natural
language.  Just look at any natural language and you'll find that logic
simply does not apply in any aspect of it, so why try to apply it
articficially like this?

In other languages (Russian for example), double, triple and quadruple
negatives are extremely common, and very correct.  In fact, it would
be incorrect to not use them.

e.g.
Ja nitchevo ne znaju.
I nothing not know.	(I don't know anything)

Ja ni o tchjom nitchevo ne znaju.
I not about anything nothing not know.  (I don't know anything about anything)

Does anyone happen to know who it was who arbitrarily decided that 
they were bad in English?  When?  Why?

-Alan

-- 
		"The only certain thing in life is death"
				- The Police
http://www.acadiau.ca/cc/alan/
