Originally Posted By: tsuwm
a reader (who's a lawyer) asks:

Someone says, "I didn't taste the soup. I did taste the soup." That statement is nonsense, and it's a simple self-contradiction. Either part can be true, but not both.


This is not necessarily a self-contradiction. There could be two definitions of taste in play here. To put it another way, "The soup was flavorless. I did sample it to see if I would like it."