Originally Posted By: Faldage
I could never see that hardly was a negative. When you say "I can hardly ..." you're saying that you can but it is with extreme difficulty. If you look at "I can't hardly ..." logically, then it would seem to mean that you can do it easily but, that's assuming that language acts logically, an extremely iffy proposition.


That's right. MWDEU gives a good demonstration of why "can't hardly" is not a double negative:
Originally Posted By: Merriam Webster's Dictionary of English Usage
Quote:
I got up and tried to untie her, but I was so excited my hands shook so I couldn't hardly do anything with them - Mark Twain, Huckleberry Finn, 1884

Huck is saying in this passage that his hands were shaking so much that he had considerable trouble in untying her, but he did untie her. Now let's make a true double negative out of it.
Quote:
My hands shook so much I couldn't do nothing with them.

If Mark Twain had had Huck say that, the female in question would still be tied up.


Last edited by goofy; 05/07/11 02:49 AM.