Double Negatives in Popular Culture — Pink Floyd and Donald Trump
The year was 2008, iPod Classic was still very much around and I was curating a playlist with a friend. One of the songs we chose was Pink Floyd’s Another Brick In The Wall. I’m sure I would’ve listened to the song more than a hundred times. Then one day, my consciousness met the song’s lyrics. And there it was, staring at me — a double negative. If you haven’t heard the song, there is no point reading the blog. By the way, in case you didn’t notice, the last sentence used double negative. Soon I started researching intermittently about it.
Although, Pink Floyd sparked my interest in double negatives, it appears that Donald Trump has used it more often than the band. Most recently, Trump stated — “Nobody that needed a ventilator didn’t get one”. President Trump’s recent statement amid the global corona scare is not the first instance when his gibberish has caused confusion.
In 2018, Donald Trump answering whether Russia interfered with the 2016 election stated, “My people came to me. They said they think it’s Russia. I have President Putin. He just said it’s not Russia. I will say this: I don’t see any reason why it would be.” Two days later, Trump issued a rare clarification — “The sentence should have been ‘I don’t see any reason why it wouldn’t be Russia.’ Sort of a double negative.” It was a rare moment that even confused Fox News. The Economist even wrote a short piece on the grammar of Trump’s double negatives and Stephen Colbert went a step further to roast Trump’s way of saying things in situations that might alter the world order.
Double negatives are like the Indian nod. It takes acumen, attention and experience to decipher them. To a novice, they might be confusing. But if you look closely, there are a number of signs that help decode the nod. These are elements like eyebrow movement, facial expression and the speed of the nod. Negative words in a double negative sentence are like the eyebrow movement or the speed, they help us derive the intended meaning.
The usage of double negatives remains a controversial topic in the English language. In languages like Sanskrit, French and Russian double negatives are often used to deliver an emphatic positive. I am not against the use of double negatives (who am I anyway); it is important that we are clear about what we speak and write and that our words convey what we intend to. And it’s not just Trump or Pink Floyd, even the Simpsons have used it, William Shakespeare has used it, you’ve heard it during Saturday Night Live and that is enough evidence of double negatives being used in popular culture. Using double negatives is not against rules of the English language. Using double negatives is not improper.
Double negatives are a tool meant for constructing a positive sentence using two negative words like ‘not’, ‘no’ or ‘nobody’ among many others. In the English language, just as in the world of common sense, the two negatives together neutralise the negative effect and produce a positive effect.
In politics, words are examined closely. Trump’s statements are a good case in point to illustrate why double negatives must be used with caution and why it is embarrassing for politicians to go back on their word.
As for the confusion that using double negatives might cause, it is not just Trump. Henry Kissinger in 1975 talking about oil-producing nations complicated matters further when he told his interviewer, “I am not saying that there’s no circumstances where we would not use force.” Moving closer to home, on 29 August 2013, former Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh addressing his fellow parliamentarians said, “It cannot be denied that the country is faced with a difficult economic situation”, when he could have easily stated the same without using negative words like “cannot” and “denied”.
Harvard linguist Steven Pinker in his book — ‘The Language Instinct’ has dealt with double negatives in great depth and has highlighted that their usage is not a bad practice, while also pointing out that in some cases a double negative might not necessarily imply an affirmative. Confused much? To alleviate the confusion, double negatives must be used cautiously but certainly, their usage is not improper. As for political messages, politicians must think twice before using double negatives; there is no point complicating a sentence that can be stated without confusing the audiences. Retractions are bad and confusing sentences are the worst.
Bonus: If you’ve seen this sketch of Dr. Anthony Fauci by Brad Pitt on SNL, you might know what I’m talking about. Around the 2:22 mark, Kate McKinnon and Aidy Bryant partake in a grocery store ad sketch. It’s beautifully written, funny and has a double negative, go figure.
