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> any true "double negative" in English that isn't indirect

A: Do you like your hometown?

B: Well, I don't not like my hometown

In boolean logic, not false is true, but in English there's often a middle ground. See also https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Law_of_excluded_middle



True! But that still falls into what I said about true double negations usually having subtext that justifies their existence. Compare "I don't hate it".

I'd argue that in "I don't not like my hometown" not-liking acts almost as a compound verb, similar to "disliking" (which is just using a Latin prefix to say "not"). Resolving the double negative results in information loss because it omits the subtext (which in this case is the important part of the answer).

In other words, saying "I don't not like my hometown" makes sense because "I don't like my hometown" implies negative emotions (disliking) rather than an absence of positive emotions (liking). The difference could also be conveyed in emphasis ("I don't like my hometown") but this is more subtle and easier to misunderstand.




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