Every discerning speaker wishes to be both accurate and clear in the expressions used to impart truth. He very properly desires to speak in harmony with the best current usage. Some expressions, however, place those who employ them at a disadvantage. The frequent use of the double negative is a case in point.
In older literary English, as in current popular speech, two or three negatives were considered stronger than a single negative, on the same principle that we are prone to drive in two or three nails, feeling that several will hold better than one. Under Latin influence this older usage has disappeared from literary English, and is at present regarded with disfavor,
Examples, culled from recent discourses heard by the writer, are given herewith:
"We can't hardly see how that can be," meaning, of course, "We can hardly see how that can be."
"You can't do that, I don't believe," for, "I don't believe you can do that," or its more emphatic form, "You cannot do that, I am sure."
"He scarcely did nothing worthwhile," the direct opposite of what was meant, i. e., "He did scarcely anything worthwhile."
"Don't never take chances," meaning, "Never take chances," or, "Don't ever take chances."
In the positive message we bear to the world, let us avoid the obscurity in meaning occasioned by the use of the double negative.
Berrien Springs, Mich.
