Rare "Quintuple Negative"

Flint • Sep 1, 2006 10:36 am
(True Story)

This guy said to me, "I ain't never met nobody who didn't know how to make no napalm." That, my friends is a Quintuple Negative, which, remarkably, imparts a net positive. It breaks down like this:

"I ain't [COLOR="DimGray"][1st negative makes it negative][/COLOR] never [COLOR="DimGray"][2nd negative makes it positive][/COLOR] met nobody [COLOR="DimGray"][3rd negative makes it negative again][/COLOR] who didn't[COLOR="dimgray"] [4th negative makes it positive again][/COLOR] know how to make no [COLOR="dimgray"][5th negative makes it negative again, again][/COLOR] napalm."

The direct (net positive) statement would read: "Everyone I have ever met knows how to make napalm."
Griff • Sep 1, 2006 10:38 am
The sad thing is, I completely understood. Then again, I also know how to make napalm.
Undertoad • Sep 1, 2006 10:46 am
Excellent catch.

Old cellar user used to find mixed metaphors.

"He was pursued by a sea of troubles"

"You buttered your bread now lie in it"

I added the category of attempted and failed metaphors.

"Nobody has been able to take my argument and ridicule it with bullets"

"He made out like a Band-Aid"
Flint • Sep 1, 2006 10:50 am
Undertoad wrote:


...mixed metaphors...
In Rules of Attraction the coke dealer says "I need you like I need an asshole on my elbow!"
Flint • Sep 1, 2006 10:53 am
Undertoad wrote:


I added the category of attempted and failed metaphors.
My Use Of Simile Sucks As Bad As The River Tide
Shawnee123 • Sep 1, 2006 10:55 am
I ain't never buttered no bread no how.

(PS Flint, who are all these napalm makin' people you know?)
Flint • Sep 1, 2006 10:58 am
Shawnee123 wrote:
(PS Flint, who are all these napalm makin' people you know?)
It's a long story, and I never tell it without one of my friends who was there with me to back me up on it. Otherwise, it comes off like a bad comedy sketch. I will say this: the name of the sketch would be "Surprise Initiation into Gay Gun Club" . . .
Ibby • Sep 1, 2006 11:17 am
...Reminds me of the time me and my druggie, pyromaniacal, mean, rude, insane best friend from Beijing and I made napalm and lit it off, then 'accidentally' (well he said it was accidental..) dropped it and burned a good couple square yards of pine needles to ash and ruined a couple pairs of shoes.
Fwboom!
MaggieL • Sep 1, 2006 11:35 am
Flint wrote:
I will say this: the name of the sketch would be "Surprise Initiation into Gay Gun Club" . . .

For the record, I'm unaware of the Pink Pistols ever advocating napalm as a personal self-defense weapon. But perhaps for recreational purposes...

For those who can see Drexel University TV, Gwen and I will be on "In Bed With Butch" during the third week of October. The show will also be broadcast on WYBE-35 the weekend of the 21st.
Flint • Sep 1, 2006 11:40 am
It's funny, Maggie, I thought of you when I wrote that, although these guys were . . . not in your caliber.
barefoot serpent • Sep 1, 2006 12:02 pm
I'm pretty sure the know how part actually makes this a sixtuple negative.

-Nattering nabob of napalmistry.
Flint • Sep 1, 2006 12:07 pm
barefoot serpent wrote:
I'm pretty sure the know how part actually makes this a sixtuple negative.
Flint wrote:
...didn't[COLOR="dimgray"] [4th negative makes it positive again][/COLOR] know how...
I counted "didn't know how" as one negative...
Ibby • Sep 1, 2006 12:09 pm
One thing...

Quintuple negatives are rare? They sure aren't rare in Alabama, and I would think it would be WORSE in Texas...
Shawnee123 • Sep 1, 2006 12:25 pm
no how vs. know how
barefoot serpent • Sep 1, 2006 12:53 pm
no way
Shawnee123 • Sep 1, 2006 12:56 pm
Know Whey? (Official marketing phrase of Miss Muffett Foods, Inc.)
Pie • Sep 1, 2006 1:19 pm
Yeah, right.
Shawnee123 • Sep 1, 2006 2:00 pm
psssst...Pie. Word association is another thread
Clodfobble • Sep 1, 2006 2:10 pm
With regard to mixed metaphors... the principal of my elementary school once announced in an assembly that "Every student has a spark, and we have a responsibility to water it."
Spexxvet • Sep 1, 2006 2:48 pm
I like a Get Smart line "give a man an inch.......and he thinks he's a ruler"
Pie • Sep 1, 2006 2:52 pm
Shawnee123 wrote:
psssst...Pie. Word association is another thread

It's a rare instance of a double-positive being a negative. So there. :p
Trilby • Sep 1, 2006 3:18 pm
I love the Get Smart thing---must Google....

and, whatever. A mixed metaphore is probably MORE effective than a bird in the bush. The only problem is racism in the ranks. Get over that and you'll step up to the plate and grab the bull by the horns!
Shawnee123 • Sep 1, 2006 3:58 pm
Pie wrote:
It's a rare instance of a double-positive being a negative. So there. :p


pssst Pie...you rock! :)
Pie • Sep 1, 2006 3:59 pm
Shawnee123 wrote:
pssst Pie...you rock! :)

:blush: Thanks... Wait, how many negatives in that sentence? :worried:
Shawnee123 • Sep 1, 2006 4:10 pm
There ain't not no negatives, no how, no way...(huh?)
xoxoxoBruce • Sep 2, 2006 3:30 pm
I don't see how "met nobody" is a negative?
Changing it to "met anybody" or "met anyone" or even "met Rastus", wouldn't change the meaning. :headshake
Flint • Sep 3, 2006 11:30 am
xoxoxoBruce wrote:
I don't see how "met nobody" is a negative?
Meeting nobody is not meeting somebody, the way I figure it.
richlevy • Sep 3, 2006 11:53 am
Flint wrote:
The direct (net positive) statement would read: "Everyone I have ever met knows how to make napalm."
Actually, I believe the correct translation would read: I met at least one person who knows how to make napalm.

The statement "Someone I met knows how to make napalm" is equally valid with 'everyone'.

The negative of nobody does not have to be everybody, it just means 'more than zero people'.
Crimson Ghost • Sep 19, 2006 2:45 am
Gasoline and Palmolive.
No, I will not give you the recipe.
Ibby • Sep 19, 2006 9:57 pm
Gasoline and Styrofoam works just fine.
Crimson Ghost • Sep 19, 2006 11:52 pm
Yes. Yes it does.
rkzenrage • Sep 20, 2006 12:17 pm
We are not getting lives yet are we?
Flint • Sep 20, 2006 12:24 pm
Ibram wrote:
Gasoline and Styrofoam works just fine.
That's how me and my brother made it when we were kids. We were little pyromaniacs! We staged battle scenes with our GI Joes, involving firecrackers, home-made napalm, etc. ...There's still a mutilated General Lee (Dukes of Hazard ) buried somehwhere out there in our old sandbed.
Crimson Ghost • Sep 21, 2006 1:04 am
Flint wrote:
That's how me and my brother made it when we were kids. We were little pyromaniacs! We staged battle scenes with our GI Joes, involving firecrackers, home-made napalm, etc. ...There's still a mutilated General Lee (Dukes of Hazard ) buried somehwhere out there in our old sandbed.


You too, huh?

I'm pretty sure there's still a Delta 88 in the swamp up home...