How would you react in this situation?
You are the captain:
captain goes: son get out there and see what happens
soldier: yes sir
solider (2min later): sir, I didnt see nothing.
captain goes:
1. ok, no news is good news
2. what the heck, what did you see then? of course the captain is from the UK and the soldier is from the US.
3. huh? banging his head against the wall.

My question: In the US, do people generally use double negative to express something negative or is it just a sign of poor education (no offence btw) just curious...

Question

How would you react in this situation?
You are the captain: 
captain goes: son get out there and see what happens
soldier: yes sir
solider (2min later): sir, I didnt see nothing. 
captain goes: 
1. ok, no news is good news
2. what the heck, what did you see then? of course the captain is from the UK and the soldier is from the US. 
3. huh? banging his head against the wall.

My question: In the US, do people generally use double negative to express something negative or is it just a sign of poor education (no offence btw) just curious...

Answer

Double negatives are useful to confuse people.  Usually deployed by politicians, diplomats.  For example, you don't want to be direct and rude.  "Your English is bad".  You say, "Your English not not bad".  Sounds better this way but confusing and that's the point.

The soldier should replied, "I didn't see anything".  "Didn't ??? nothing" is spoken by the uneducated.  It came from the way of uneducated black slaves in US plantations of old.

Answer

It's a sign of poor education, and it happens in all English speaking countries. It's not just a "US thing".

As a captain, I'd bawl him out for bad grammar and make him scrub latrines with his own toothbrush.  That kind of lazy talk can lose a squadron, son!!

Answer

hi there, thanks for your input. I think its just a "bad habit", we got plenty of these in Chinese as well, :-).

Answer

I know a lot of people who have trouble understanding double negatives. I see how it is confusing, so I guess it is just something in languages that happens. In my opinion it isn't usually intentional. Sometimes I get halfway through a sentence and know I have to make it somewhat positive so I may use a double negative. This is a very good question, but it is so hard to explain!

Answers · 7

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