this post was submitted on 12 Jan 2024

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You ain't saw nothing (lemmy.world)

submitted 11 months ago by Stamets to c/aww

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[–] [email protected] 55 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

in all of my years living in NYC, this has happened on no fewer than 4 occasions— seeing aa missing pet sign and then looking over to see that pet just sitting there or walking around nearby. yes, I called the owners.

[–] [email protected] 29 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Holy crap, you've found four missing pets? That's pretty damn amazing.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Found feels like a stretch, seems like NY cats have worked out that those poles are a taxi service just for them, so they just look for their pole and wait till their chauffeur to arrive.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago

Nah I wouldn't be surprised. Bastards are smart and assholes.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I’ve never even found a four leaf clover. I mean, I guess the last time I tried I was like 9 but still.

[–] Lemminary 8 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Impressive! Wow, you go outside that often, huh.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Oh, what am I saying. Of course you don't.

[–] cdf12345 26 points 11 months ago

“You say anything and I’ll cut you”

[–] [email protected] 21 points 11 months ago

"Did they put out the posters again!? I was gone for a day!"

[–] Thcdenton 6 points 11 months ago

That cat wants a snack thats all

[+] [email protected] -48 points 11 months ago (3 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] [email protected] 25 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Not so strange actually. Sure, seen superficially, it seems that double negatives negate each other but that doesn't fit the empirical data. Many languages do this in their standard variety and English does it in many local, social and historical varieties. I think Shakespeare did it too.

Spanish for example has "sin nada", literally "without nothing" but meaning "with nothing"/ "without anything".

So the linguistic consensus is that the negative is expressed more than once. Depending on the language this might be optional or not. Slavic languages have a negative prefix "ne-" on verbs and this is obligatory if a negative word (like never, nobody,...) is used in the sentence.

[+] [email protected] -22 points 11 months ago (4 children)

[removed by mod]

[–] JusticeForPorygon 20 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Wait till you learn about oxymorons

[–] TheOnlyMego 16 points 11 months ago

This person should be aware of them, as they use oxygen and are a moron

[–] Lemminary 7 points 11 months ago

What did you just call me

[–] [email protected] 8 points 11 months ago (2 children)

If you are ready to reflext on your biases, you should take the 4min and watch this video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o3jxC3zqkEE

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

Here is an alternative Piped link(s):

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[–] FardyCakes 0 points 11 months ago

No, this is not true. No, English is not math.

See. Both of those sentences contain “double negatives.”

[–] RedditWanderer -5 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

I'm pretty sure you say and hear "I don't have anything" all the time and it doesn't trip you up. That's a double negative used in common dialects of English to emphasize.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Did you mean to say "I don't have nothing"? Because "I don't have anything" doesn't seem to be a double negative

[+] [email protected] -7 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Arguably, since "anything" is only used in negative sentences, it is kind of part of the negative. You wouldn't say "I have anything", only "I don't have anything". Then again, it can be used in positive sentences like "I would do anything" with a slightly different meaning.

But let's take "anymore". "I can't stand it anymore" is a common phrase but "I can stand it anymore" not so much. "anymore" is only used in negative sentences so the "not" is arguably redundant and therefore "not ... anymore" is kind of a double negative.

And even that's not true for all speakers of English. There are native speakers who would say "I go to town anymore" unironically.

Edit: I reread the comment you reacted to and to say it's "to emphasize" is wrong. That argument would work better for "at all" for example. My point is that "double negative" isn't as clear cut as it might seem to be at first glance. "I don't know nothing" is a double negative for sure, "I don't know anything at all" kind of in a way, "I don't know anything" maybe a little bit.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 11 months ago

This is close to the dumbest thing I read today, though to be fair I haven't been reading that much today.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 11 months ago

First of all, something like "I'll have anything" is a valid and reasonable statement that is not negative, for example when somebody asks you what you want to drink.

But further, "anything", "anymore" and "at all" are all very different - from what I understand, "anymore" doesn't even exist as a word in British English, and I'd point out an example of "do you have any more?" as another non-negative. I think generally "anything" makes more sense by itself than "anymore"/"any more", and "at all" similarly needs context. But just to provide a not-really-negative example, "Do you like it at all?", where a positive response ("yes"/"I do") does mean liking something.

In the end, I think your arguments might be stemming from trying to apply the term to too many things, from my understanding double negatives are very simple in that they need to have two negatives. A word being general, and used mostly in negative statements doesn't mean it's a negative, and that the actual negative part of the sentence is redundant.

[–] [email protected] 15 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Its true the cat is not formally educated but please don't call it British.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (1 children)

You ain't never learned to just keep that there mouth shut bout how some people make themselves easily understood?