5 ms·

Her translation of Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae is not unrenowned.

by plink 7y ago

rswail 7y ago
An MIT linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative." A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."
- bb123 7y ago
  I wonder what linguistics professors think of Australian slang: "Nah yeah" -> Yes "Yeah nah" -> No "Yeah nah yeah" -> Yes (very)
  - frosted-flakes 7y ago
    That's not Australian-specific. I've heard it a lot in Canada, for example.
- Goladus 7y ago
  funny but just in case anyone takes it literally, "yeah, right" requires some contextual indication of sarcasm to be negative. The same words could be uttered as an expression of impatient agreement rather than disagreement, and most positives can be turned negative with additional context. This is different from the English double negative which is an application of context-free logic to a statement.
  - SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
    Indeed. This joke doesn't really work written down- it's absolutely possible to say "yeah, right" in an entirely positive way. It's the sarcastic tone when spoken that makes it negative.
- deleted 7y ago
  [deleted]
- cafard 7y ago
  The one item I've seen attributing this to a named person, attributed it to a philosophy professor at CCNY. This was in "The Lives They Led" year-end collection of obituaries the NY Times publishes, and it was probably at least five years ago.
- dang 7y ago
  That was Sidney Morgenbesser, a philosopher so witty that the remarks he came up with have turned into jokes and proverbs. https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/177249/sidney-morgenbesser https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/1772...
  - pvg 7y ago
    Have you run across a reference that traces this story? Because you get everything from joke, funny story about the person to true story about the person. In seemingly endless circular reference.

Her translation of Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae is not unrenowned.

by plink 7y ago

Her translation of Boethius’s De Consolatione Philosophiae is not unrenowned.

An MIT linguistics professor was lecturing his class the other day. "In English," he said, "a double negative forms a positive. However, in some languages, such as Russian, a double negative remains a negative. But there isn't a single language, not one, in which a double positive can express a negative." A voice from the back of the room piped up, "Yeah, right."

bb123 7y ago
I wonder what linguistics professors think of Australian slang: "Nah yeah" -> Yes "Yeah nah" -> No "Yeah nah yeah" -> Yes (very)
- frosted-flakes 7y ago
  That's not Australian-specific. I've heard it a lot in Canada, for example.
Goladus 7y ago
funny but just in case anyone takes it literally, "yeah, right" requires some contextual indication of sarcasm to be negative. The same words could be uttered as an expression of impatient agreement rather than disagreement, and most positives can be turned negative with additional context. This is different from the English double negative which is an application of context-free logic to a statement.
- SmellyGeekBoy 7y ago
  Indeed. This joke doesn't really work written down- it's absolutely possible to say "yeah, right" in an entirely positive way. It's the sarcastic tone when spoken that makes it negative.
deleted 7y ago
[deleted]
cafard 7y ago
The one item I've seen attributing this to a named person, attributed it to a philosophy professor at CCNY. This was in "The Lives They Led" year-end collection of obituaries the NY Times publishes, and it was probably at least five years ago.
dang 7y ago
That was Sidney Morgenbesser, a philosopher so witty that the remarks he came up with have turned into jokes and proverbs. https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/177249/sidney-morgenbesser https://www.tabletmag.com/jewish-arts-and-culture/books/1772...
- pvg 7y ago
  Have you run across a reference that traces this story? Because you get everything from joke, funny story about the person to true story about the person. In seemingly endless circular reference.