For Better or For Worse by Lynn Johnston for July 27, 2009

mike should take lessons from calvin

I am not unhappy not to be a father.

Cleo “not unhappy” is a double negative.

I did something similar to my father, except with an extention cord. The nail on his left index finger never did grow back right…

rmleon said,

Cleo “not unhappy” is a double negative.

“Not unhappy not” is even better - it’s a triple!

But cleo then you would have some help watering that lawn of yours.

The little bugger, good trick.

rmleon: parse the words carefully. Cleo wrote just what he wanted to say.

“DO NOT OPEN DOOR EXCEPT WHEN NOT IN CASE OF EMERGENCY”

Shakepeare thought the double negative acceptable and used them often. Are we to doubt the Bard’s use of English?

Justifiable childcide.

I’d run.

If Michael is caught he won’t be able to sit down for a week. Yeah that was a Calvin thing to do.

As for the double negative, in Spanish it’s appropriate so why is English so picky?

Actually Macush, that action preceded Calvin by many years–I actually did that a few times the first summer (1973) in our first house in Calgary.

(heck it even precedes FBOFW! And I still find it humourous)

The best gags are the ones without copy.

Mike learned to do that trick, from someone.

Just to put an end to the double-negative debate, Cleokaya’s usage happens to follow the one exception to the rule that generally bans the use of them in English on the grounds that they logically cancel each other out (which, Machuslalondra, is why they’re generally no longer acceptable in English, although the rule banning them in English didn’t exist until about the 15th or 16th Century. Before that, they were as commonly accepted in English as they are today in the Romance languages, as a way of intensifying the negation, rather than contradicting it.)

The one exception to the general rule is that when the writer or speaker is deliberately trying to understate the opposite concept, double negatives are not only acceptable, but actually required.

Case in point: “I am not unhappy not to be a father” is simply an understated way of saying, “I am EXTREMELY happy not to be a father.” It’s a rare idiomatic construction, to be sure, but it’s still a valid one.

And, as far as the actual topic is concerned, Michael had better hope that John doesn’t find out that he’s the culprit; the results would be most unpleasant, I’m sure!

I remember a later Sunday strip when John does the same thing to Elly.

Compared to the stunts my sons pulled, this one is mild. cleo I’m glad you’re content with your situation. My childless (& single) siblings are starting to regret their choices now that they are senior citizens. I don’t regret having kids, even with all the aggravation they’ve caused. Without them, I wouldn’t have near as many fun stories to tell!

rmelon & ejcapulet* - Triple negatives show just how glad I am that I am not a father. I just never had the patience. I love to be around other people’s children though.

I never wanted kids and don’t mind that it’s now too late for any of my own. Unless I met and spent a serious amount of time with someone who has them, that’s going to be the way it is for life.

Am I the only one who thinks today’s strip is NOT funny? (If you do it right, one negative is usually enough.)

I’m thinking of updating my comic subscriptions soon, and the way FBOFW has been going downhill lately, it is almost on the chopping block.

I used to do this to my dad! Thank god for the older “For Better or For Worse” style. The new ones are just too dramatic.

Hey Y’all! Do you think this strip of FBOFW is so hilariously funny? I think it is! Michael get busted if John, his father find out Michael makes a trick with that water hose.

I never did to my father like that. But I think I did to my mother for a good trick long time ago. She didn’t mind getting wet.

I thnk Michael must have read C&H comic strip for this. Now father and son can play in the water. What fun

been there done that got my butt smacked by grandma

I used to do this all the time to my father, until one day he got smart and did the same to me. Taught me a lesson!

I hope Michael’s children can read this strip and follow directions.

When we were kids, our dad did that to us!

legaleagle48 said, about 7 hours ago

“The one exception to the general rule is that when the writer or speaker is deliberately trying to understate the opposite concept, double negatives are not only acceptable, but actually required.”

The technical literary term for this is litotes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Litotes

Second or third oldest trick in the “Summer Fun” book. The first is either water guns or water balloons.

Coming out of lurkdom to comment here. My dad was a college level English teacher. One of his students came up with this gem “I ain’t got scarcely hardly no time for study,ain’t I”.

Love this strip. It’s always been one of my favs, and I’m enjoying getting to know the young family all over again.

This was one of the plots for the earliest silent films ever made. Before that they were mainly of trains going into stations or waves on beach.

Still is funny though.

Never thought I’d learn so much about language in connection with a strip drawn without words!

Hilarious Lynn! Thanks.

I enjob gocomics and some of the comments gets funny. I did not know, but I just jumped in, if only certain people in general with knowledge only ones could write in.

The linguistics professor intoned, “In most languages, a double negative is a positive. In some, it is a emphatic negative, and a double positive is often an emphatic positive. But in no language is a double positive a negative.”

From the back of the classroom, a student called, “Yeah, right!”

“I ain’t got scarcely hardly no time for study,ain’t I.”

Yes.

Stuart, hahaha, brilliant! :D