LINGUIST List 3.800  Tue 20 Oct 1992  Disc: Negatives  Editor
for this issue: <>     1. Jane Edwards, listlessness of
negatives  Message 1: listlessness of negatives  Date: Mon, 19
Oct 92 20:00:11 -0listlessness of negatives From: Jane Edwards
<edwardscogsci.Berkeley.EDU> Subject: listlessness of negatives
Henry Kucera's query concerning "I could care less" made me
wonder about a couple of other constructions also involving
negatives:  (1) "I can't hardly wait"; "I couldn't scarcely
believe my eyes." in which there are logically too many rather
than too few negatives (according to my dialect of American
English),  (2) the following constructions, which seem common
these days in advertising:  We sell more cars than anyone.  We
do X like no one. (where X is something desireable) which in my
dialect would need an "else" (which I would see as a set-
defining negative term) to avoid being self-contradictory.  (3)
positive polarity "anymore" - "we shop at Safeway anymore".
already discussed on Linguist (and not adm