When It's Not Unacceptable

Perhaps Pink Floyd "don't need no education," but for those of us in academia, the question is sometimes asked: Can we use double negatives? (Aside: English majors also wonder if my use of passive voice a moment ago is appropriate. Having such thoughts, however, does not make you an English major; that fallacy is called "affirming the consequent." See: computer science or philosophy majors.)

While your elementary school English teacher probably told you to never use them, double negatives actually do have a place in our discourse. (Those teachers should have known to never say never, not ever, not ever.) Since grammar girl has a relatively lack-luster article on the topic, here are is my own two cents. You can use a double negative to (and only to)...

 

1) Contrast the positive with the absence of the negative
Example: "I thought she would have liked me, or at least not disliked me, but it seems I was mistaken."
Example: "But of course I'm excited! I can't not be excited!"

 

2) Highlight a deviation
Example: "I don't like that one. I don't like that one. I don't...hmm. Well, I don't dislike that one."
Example: "Unlike previous concerns, this is no insignificant matter."

 

3) Avoid committing to positivity (or negativity)
Example: "I don't dislike your course, professor; I just have other courses which interest me more."
Example: "I am not impressed, nor am I unimpressed."

What we're talking about is using the double negative for well-thought-out strategic rhetorical purposes. When people say not to use double negatives, they're trying to avoid:

1) Confusing sentences
Example: "Isn't it true that you were never there that night?" (Literally: Is it true that you were there?)

2) Failure to convey proper meaning
Example: "I don't want nothing to eat...leave me alone!" (Literally: I want something to eat.)

3) Useless words
Example "A not unblack dog was chasing a not unsmall rabbit across a not ungreen field." - Orwell

Well, there you have it. So the next time you can't avoid slipping a double negative into something you've written, take a moment to evaluate what you're doing. If what you're saying can be said more simply with a positive, without the loss of meaning, go for it. Otherwise, know that, just as two wrongs make something very different from a right, it's not impossible to produce with negatives something more than a mere positive could ever provide.