Double negatives (from main list)

[David]

On the main list, Heather Moore wrote, about the alleged double 
negative in GOF:

> It may not technically be an error. I think this is an example of 
one style difference between British writing and American writing. 
ASE frowns on double negatives as bad form, interpreting the clauses 
as cancelling each other out. I believe that in Britain, this sort of 
double negative is a regarded as a legitimate way to emphasize a 
point.

I cannot deny that the use of double negatives is not without its 
undoubted pleasures, notwithstanding the unavoidable confusion.  In 
British English, double negatives usually cancel out, but in some 
dialects people may say things like 'Muggles! Don't see nuffink!'.

We are fully aware of the ambiguity here, and so is Peeves, who wound 
Filch up by using one once, IIRC.

David the Pottulant