Re: L@@K! L@@K! L@@K!

On Apr 7, 10:16�am, Wolf K <weki...@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Steve Caple wrote:
On Tue, 07 Apr 2009 16:52:01 +1000, Krypsis wrote:

David Nebenzahl wrote:
On 4/6/2009 8:48 PM Mark Mathu spake thus:

"Puckdropper" <puckdropper(at)yahoo(dot)com> wrote in message
news:001efe64$0$14593$c3e8da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

I didn't look! �Honest!
Oh yeah, what didn't you see?
I didn't see nothing!
That's a double negative. It ain't grammatically correct.

A double negative is a positive surely?

If I tole ya once, I tole ya a thousand times, my name ain't Shirley.

Grammar rules are not logic rules. The double negative = positive is
true in some contexts, and not true in others. Historically, �double
negatives mean emphatic negative. The strictures on that usage were
invented by a 17th century school teacher who had an imperfect grasp of
Latin grammar, and no grasp of English grammar. OTOH negative particle
plus negative prefix == positive.(b)

(a)
"No, that's not so."
"I didn't see nothin'."
"Give him no nevermind."
Plus lots of examples in Shakespeare. Look 'em up. ;-)
Etc.

(b)
"It is not uncommon for people to mistake usage rules for grammar rules,
� but not the inverse."

Kapeesh?

wolf k.- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -

And, I might add, spelling rules are worse than grammer rules.

Growing up in New Orleans makes it even more difficult since we have
several variations on language such as American English, French
English, Spanish English, African English, Native American English
and so on. Then, add to that, French English has several variations
of it's own such as Colonial French-English, Creole French- English
and Acadian ( or Cajun) French-English.

Then we can have a discussion on why so many people who settled on the
"German Coast" of the Mississippi River above New Orleans all have
French names because the no one could translate. When a German was
asked what his name meant, he pointed to a tree branch and thus his
name became LaBranche.

Funny to hear German spoken with a French accent.

.

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