I wasn't thinking of that construction, no. My French is marginally better
than my Spanish and much better than my other languages, but in Spanish it's
perfectly correct to say "no hablo ninguna palabra de español". My
impression (unsupported, I admit now that you catch me at it) is that this
is more common in most languages than the way we have it in English.
I'm a linguaphile and have goofed around, in an undisciplined way, in quite
a few languages. But I can carry on written conversation in only three or
four, and that with effort, so I mustn't claim to be expert in any but
English.
Of course, in English the same sentence ("I don't speak nary a word of
English") would be perfectly understandable, too. But most Anglophones
would say it isn't quite right; I think logicians hold the upper hand in
English when it comes to double negatives.
---
Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313
/* Quotes found on the internet are not always accurate!!! -Abraham Lincoln
*/
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of
Seymour J Metz
Sent: Tuesday, January 4, 2022 20:18
I don't know of any language where two negatives make a negative. I know of
languages that have distributed negatives, e.g., "Je ne parle pas Français."
in French. AFAIK it would be incorrect to omit either "ne" or "pas" from
that sentence; you need both.
________________________________________
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List [IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU] on behalf of
Bob Bridges [robhbrid...@gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, January 4, 2022 5:21 PM
In English (unlike most languages), two negatives make a positive. ("Yeah,
right.") So when the girl says "I don't want nothing to do with you, no
how, no way", to an English professor she means "yes". This may explain why
English professors are so cautious.
-----Original Message-----
From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of
René Jansen
Sent: Tuesday, January 4, 2022 14:37
You are reading my mind correctly, always had trouble with the double
denials.
> --- On 4 Jan 2022, at 15:28, zMan <zedgarhoo...@gmail.com> wrote:
>> although this does not mean that I would like to see that port.
>
> ...does not mean that I would NOT like to see... ?
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