• PunchingWood@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    arrow-up
    5
    ·
    4 days ago

    Reminds me how annoying it is when English speakers use “ain’t no” in a sentence.

    Which is just a double negative that practically almost always means the opposite of what they mean.

    • __dev@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      arrow-up
      1
      ·
      3 days ago

      Double negatives affirming one another instead of negating is a common thing in language, known as “emphatic negation” or “negative concord”. Middle English used emphatic negation and various English dialects still use it to this day including African-American English. They’re saying exactly what they mean, just not in Standard English. Just like they’re probably not pronouncing the words the same way. No reason to get annoyed.