GoF: US v UK Double Negatives

[Heather Moore]

No: HPFGUIDX 29708

--- In HPforGrownups at y..., "E S" <persephone_uk at h...> wrote:
> Hmmm ... I've got a first edition hardback and a paperback copy of GoF 
> (British version) and in both it says "unless the few of us who know the 
> truth stand united" etc.  I have no idea where the mistake comes from, but 
> modern British English also adheres to the rule that double negatives cancel 
> each other out (in old English they were used for emphasis; a fact my old 
> English lit. teacher was constantly trying to drum into my head!) so it must 
> just be a printing error.
> 
> Emily.
> 
> 
> "I just met a wonderful new man. He's fictional, but you can't have 
> everything." ~ The Purple Rose of Cairo
> 
> 
> 
> >From: "Heather Moore" <heathernmoore at y...>
> >Reply-To: HPforGrownups at y...
> >To: HPforGrownups at y...
> >Subject: [HPforGrownups] GoF: US v UK Double Negatives
> >Date: Fri, 23 Nov 2001 21:30:39 -0000
> >
> >--- In HPforGrownups at y..., butagirl at a... wrote:
> > > sonjahric at y... wrote:
> > >
> > > <<In chapter 36 of GoF (in my book it is page 712) there is a sentence I 
> >am
> > > confused about:
> > >
> > > Dumbledore says, "Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the 
> >truth
> > > do not stand united, there is no hope for any us."
> > >
> > > Shouldn't it say, "Time is short, and IF the few of us who know the 
> >truth do
> > > not stand united, there is no hope for any us"  OR, "Time is short, and
> > > unless the few of us who know the truth STAND united, there is no hope 
> >for
> > > any us?">>
> > >
> > > This must be a printing error in the edition you have. Mine clearly 
> >states:
> > >
> > > "Time is short, and unless the few of us who know the truth stand 
> >united,
> > > there is no hope for any us."
> > >
> > > Sharon Brindle
> >
> >
> >  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.
> >
> >Very possibly the earliest printing of GOF in America kept the original 
> >phrasing, and an editor subsequently "fixed" that phrasing for later 
> >printings?  How does the sentence run in the British editions?
> >


 Ah! Well, I guess it's time to toss out *that* ancient US/UK Usage Comparisons FAQ, then. (Considering I downloaded it from *Usenet* about seven years ago, I shouldn't be surprised....)