Negative Questions
I have an aunt who asks questions in the negative. It’s a northern thing, I think, but when she used to call and say: “Is your dad not there?” and he actually was, I used to say. “No.”
Or if he wasn’t in I used to say sometimes: “I’m afraid you’re right.”
I get this all the time.
“Are you not cold like that?”
“Yeah.”
“Well do something about it.”
“Do something… about not being cold?”
“What?”
Or if my mother in law at the table says: “Aren’t you hungry?”
I have to lie to her in order to get across how I feel.
So I nod my head and smile, agreeing with her that I am not hungry, because I am, and she comes round with the potatoes.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:35 am
It is a northern thing. On a train with a Japanese once, I said, ‘Isn’t that draughty? Yes, he said. I got up to close the window. It’s fine, he said.
I don’t know which of us was more confused.
December 21st, 2006 at 11:29 am
Cliff - aren’t you a pedant?
December 21st, 2006 at 11:43 am
Exactly!
Finally - some support around here.
December 21st, 2006 at 12:38 pm
Support?! Have I not been supporting you?!
;)
December 21st, 2006 at 4:35 pm
This confuses me, not least because I find it perfectly normal. And I’m not a northerner.
“Aren’t you eating that?” I’ll ask Wife if I want to swipe something off her plate.
“Haven’t you got any cash on you?”, too.
My head hurts now.
December 21st, 2006 at 10:54 pm
Shouldn’t you ask questions that way?
December 22nd, 2006 at 8:40 am
Ed R - Not at all, and how can I not appreciate that?
Sam - spot on.
* - Aren’t we saying the same thing?
December 22nd, 2006 at 4:04 pm
I don’t know. Like I say, my head hurts.
December 22nd, 2006 at 7:42 pm
I was about to recommend a pain reliever for punctuation.
Then I realized, he’s probably on another continent anyway.
Now MY head hurts.