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From: Bob Cunningham <exw6sxq@earthlink.net>
Newsgroups: alt.languages.english
Subject: Re: What's with the double negative "not in...", "not un..."?
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References: <Misc-F2DF2B.07131011072005@newssvr14-ext.news.prodigy.com> <slrndd56kn.5fk.chris@ccserver.keris.net>
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Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2005 23:33:07 GMT
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On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 17:13:12 +0100, Chris Croughton
<chris@keristor.net> said:
> On Mon, 11 Jul 2005 14:12:57 GMT, Miss Elaine Eos
> <Misc@*your-shoes*PlayNaked.com> wrote:
[...]
> > [about things like "not unfriendly" to
> > mean "sorta friendly"]
> > At any rate, does anyone know where this
> > form originated, and whether or not it is
> > considered proper?
> It is considered to be not improper <g>.
It even has a name, "litotes". See
http://humanities.byu.edu/rhetoric/silva.htm .
The _New Shorter Oxford English Dictionary_ dates "litotes"
"L16", late 16th century.
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