Tuesday, April 11, 2023

A triple double

In today’s Mutts, Mooch announces that he is tired of being a cat. So, Earl asks, what does he want to be?

[Mutts, April 11, 2023.]

I think Mooch must have gone to my elementary school, where I once overheard an extraordinary triple double-negative: “I ain’t got none. I don’t want none. I don’t need none.” Which, obviously, I have never forgotten.

See also Stan Carey, who cautions, “Don’t never tell nobody not to use no double negatives.”

comments: 2

Lorraine said...

Don't nobody never wanna do nothing.

In Russian one piles on the negating words (which all start with н which is pronounced n) and there is no grammatical rule against double negatives. It's glorious.

Michael Leddy said...

That’s wonderful. Thanks for that!