August 09, 2006
Overnegation as obfuscation
We've observed many times (most recently here, here, and here — see also the list of links here) that multiple-negation constructions often seem to overload the parsing circuits of our poor brains. A recent comic strip from Penny Arcade takes a look at how negational confusion can be used a tactic to befuddle consumers.
(Hat tip to Matthew Ringel.)
Posted by Benjamin Zimmer at August 9, 2006 04:24 PM