Question e-mailed by Rocky Avila, Forum member (May 30, 2015):
In Facebook, I read the case of “Awful double negative phrasing imperils lawyer’s audacious rant” that you brought up. This reminds me of a very popular Filipino pugilist.
After the “Fight of the Century” wherein Floyd Mayweather Jr. gained further recognition by obtaining a unanimous decision over our very own Manny Pacquiao, many people believed that Manny was robbed. Congressman Emmanuel Pacquiao of the Batasang Pambansa ng Pilipinas also gave an awful double negative statement by announcing during the post-fight interview “...He (Mayweather) did not do nothing.” [sic] Is this statement an admission of defeat and that he was beaten to a pulp? I can’t blame our Honorable Congressman. He must be a victim of poor English instruction.
My reply to Rocky:
Manny Pacquiao, the boxer and not the congressman, did say this about Floyd Mayweather Jr.’s beating him by unanimous decision: “He did not do nothing.” That’s an awful double negative in English-savvy circles, but in the rough-and-tumble world of sports, insiders do talk in double negatives as code and as badge of honor, as when they say “I ain’t done nothin’ yet” and “I didn’t go nowhere today.” (Grammar-conscious speakers, of course, would say “I haven’t done anything yet” and “I didn’t go anywhere today.”) Our Manny may not be an exemplar of good English, but I suspect that the experienced world-class boxer and aspiring thespian that he is, he actually knew that such double negatives are déclassé but just wanted to show to the world that he can very well match if not outclass the Ebonics—that’s Black English, as you know—of his arch-nemesis. As they say, if you can’t beat them, join them.
