ucbesvax.turner@ucbcad.UUCP (08/08/83)
#R:utastro:-48900:ucbesvax:6900003:000:1104
ucbesvax!turner Aug 7 07:04:00 1983
"This criticism was not undeserved"
That's OK: it's standard use of the double-negative as ironic under-
statement. Sure, one can simply say "this criticism was deserved,"
except that *that* phrase cries out for a "but...." Not so with this
double-negative: it is slightly equivocal in suggesting that criticism
was deserved--it says "it's deserved, but let's not get into that."
On the other hand,
"...it is not unlikely that this criticism was not undeserved."
is stupid: it attempts to assign a probability ("not unlikely") to
a statement that it wants, at the same time, to leave undisturbed
by any further qualification: "not undeserved." It is not the number
of negatives being employed that is the main problem, although that is
certainly *one* of the problems with it. It is, rather, that it doubly-
negates any clear intent in the process.
The first says: "I am being ambiguous; bear with me." The second says,
"I gotta get this 500-word review hacked out before the deadline."
The first is wry politeness, the second is sly rudeness.
Michael Turner
ucbvax!ucbesvax.turner