"We don't have nothing...."

[Disney1fan2002]

That was a line in a country song I heard today. I guess that means they have something, right??

 

[DisneyKing82]

That was a line in a country song I heard today. I guess that means they have something, right??

Yes that means they have something.

 

[Minnie_me]

That was a line in *a* country song???

I thought that was a line in EVERY country song!???!

 

[MinnieMe87]

That was a line in *a* country song???

I thought that was a line in EVERY country song!???!

 

[C.Ann]

I love country music - it's my favorite - but the "lingo" can be challenging until you get used to it..

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

I love country music - it's my favorite - but the "lingo" can be challenging until you get used to it..

't ain't to bad if you can speak the sutherin' twang.

Double countractions--just means they really don't have something. Like really really don't.

 

[C.Ann]

't ain't to bad if you can speak the sutherin' twang.

Double countractions--just means they really don't have something. Like really really don't.

"Well slap my granmaw.."

 

[FireDancer]

Double negatives, the bane of English grammar everywhere . Yes, if you don't have nothing you do have something. When I watch interrogations of criminals on TV I always wonder why "I ain't killed no one" isn't treated as a confession. They just admitted to killing someone!

 

[Took]

Oddly enough, English is one of the few languages with a "ban" on double negatives. Many other languages allow them.

 

[lacrosse_lady72]

When people use double negatives and/or say the word "ain't" I can't take them seriously... at all.

 

[SAHDad]

Oddly enough, English is one of the few languages with a "ban" on double negatives. Many other languages allow them.

IIRC, English is about the only language where a double positive can form a negative as well.

I have no problem with "ain't" however - it is at least 300 years old, so maybe we ought to just accept it as a linguistic practice and move on.

 

[C.Ann]

Personally, I love "country twang".. Makes me want to move south..

 

[Wall-E1]

I think in country music ebonics, it does in fact mean that the singer has nothing. The double negative merely reinforces this point for those in the deep south.

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

Double negatives, the bane of English grammar everywhere . Yes, if you don't have nothing you do have something. When I watch interrogations of criminals on TV I always wonder why "I ain't killed no one" isn't treated as a confession. They just admitted to killing someone!

LOL!

I sometimes think they should let Southern as it's own special language.

I think it only counts as a positive if they are aware and sadly, in some dialects--they mean the negative.

country music ebonics,

 

[PlainJane]

Oddly enough, English is one of the few languages with a "ban" on double negatives. Many other languages allow them.

It was so hard for me to grasp this in my Spanish class. I understood it, but it was so hard to put into practice.

 

[paintnolish]

Oddly enough, English is one of the few languages with a "ban" on double negatives. Many other languages allow them.

My liguistics professor (in my History of the Eng Lang class) said the same thing. He said it is a language, not a math problem! The same rules shouldn't be applied!

 

[Disneycrazy!!]

i am from the south and yes it means they really do not have anything!!!

 

[jlima]

No no no.

It's:

"We ain't got no . . ."

when you grow up in South Louisiana.

 

[kaytieeldr]

Now that you've all had a good laugh at the expense of country music lyrics, may I remind you of one of the classic examples, from over forty years ago and an entirely different genre? "I can't get no satisfaction..."

Yet nobody made fun of the Rolling Stones.

 

[torinsmom]

Most southern people don't talk that way, and I can almost assure you that the singer of that song doesn't talk like that IRL either. It's just the way the song is written. Other genres have this as well---rap comes to mind---and many of those artists are very well-spoken IRL as well.

Marsha