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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25343
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/25343
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

English is not a programming language and negatives are not minus signs. They do not automatically cancel each other out. Double negatives are idioms and, depending on context, the second negative may cancel, weaken, or strengthen the first.

`not infrequently` is a case where the second negative weakens the first but does not cancel it out. `not infrequently` does not mean `frequently`, it means something between `frequently` and `infrequently`, so `occasionally` might be a good interpretation.

Compare this to a sentence like `I am not unfamiliar with copyright law.` Here the speaker is saying that they know something about copyright law, but they don't want to claim to be an expert. If you said, `I am familiar with copyright law`, that would imply that you are an expert. If you said `I am unfamiliar with copyright law`, that would imply that you knew nothing about it. `I am not unfamiliar with copyright law` means that I know a fair bit about it, but I don't claim to know all the ins and outs and details. It say, "I can give you general information, but don't mistake my word for professional advice.

But it can also be used ironically. If Mark Zuckerberg tells you that he is `not unfamiliar with social media`, he would of course mean that he is perhaps the world's greatest expert on the subject. Here the second negative not merely cancels the first but overshoots, emphasising the positive rather than the negative.

`I don't have nothing` is a common idiom (and in no way grammatically incorrect). It, and similar formulations, are a case of the second negative reinforcing the first. `I don't have nothing` may be semantically identical to `I have nothing`, but it has an additional emotional overtone, giving further emphasis to the speaker's destitution, and expressing their despair over it.

But this can also be to express disinterest or indifference to a subject. "What's your take on the decline of the Democratic Party in the House of Representatives?" "I don't got nothing."

`not infrequently in the myths and the popular tales` is a case of the second negative softening the first. Therefore it very specifically does not mean that the call unanswered occurs frequently in the myths. It is, however, denying that that is is rare. In short, it is equivalent to `occasionally`. It is saying that a sufficient number of cases of it can be found to support the writer's point.

Another use of the the double negative can be to separate two meanings that might otherwise be read as one. For instance, `I am not unappreciative of the party you threw for me` means that the speaker appreciates that you thought of them and wanted to throw them a party, but that they did not enjoy the party itself and would rather you did not throw them one in the future. Compare this to `I appreciated the party`, which would imply I liked the party itself, and `I did not appreciate the party` which would imply that you are not grateful for the thought and the effort that went into it.

Double negatives, are, in short, and instrument of nuance.

They are never ungrammatical because they are a matter of semantics, not grammar. But their semantics is not that of simple or uniform negation.

Original score: 3