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Didn't Make Sense Not to Live for Fun

2020-05-19 · letter vlog · John · 3:59 · watch on YouTube

Topic: History & curiosities (also: Pop culture) · mode: Personal essay · tags: self correction, self promotion

John argues that double negatives are not simply wrong: from French negative concord to Pink Floyd's 'We don't need no education', they carry nuance and clear meaning, and he reads Smash Mouth's 'didn't make sense not to live for fun' as an uncertain, conflicted line about fame.

What is said

The parts of the video and what is said in each (★ — how much it matters to the video).

00:00:00 — French 'je ne sais pas', negative concord, and the shifting meanings of English double negatives

  • ★★ John explains that in French 'je ne sais pas' (I don't know) both ne and pas are negative: multiple negatives affirm each other, which is called negative concord. — 00:00:00
  • ★ John jokes that negative concord would be a pretty good tagline for the social internet. (joke) — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says many languages, from Hebrew to Portuguese, use negative concord, while in English and some other languages double negatives can mean positives. — 00:00:00
  • ★★ John says 'I'm not not tired' likely means you are tired, perhaps very tired, since double negatives can create understatement, or it can mean a feeling adjacent to tired. — 00:00:29
  • ★★ John says double negatives can be confusing: 'I don't disagree' generally means 'I agree', but 'I'm not going nowhere' doesn't mean going somewhere. — 00:00:29

00:00:58 — Taught that double negatives are wrong, John finds they serve many purposes and add nuance

  • ★★★ John was taught as a kid that double negatives were simply wrong in English because they were confusing, but in fact they serve many purposes. — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says even the most prescriptivist grammarian accepts 'I am not disgruntled' as correct, because 'I am gruntled' sounds ludicrous. (playful) — 00:00:58
  • ★★ John says that even in their more common uses, English double negatives can offer a lot of richness and nuance. — 00:00:58

00:01:27 — Pink Floyd's 'We don't need no education': clear meaning against proper English and thought control

  • ★★★ John reads Pink Floyd's lyric, sung by schoolchildren on The Wall, as kids rejecting a rigid education that force-feeds values and forms them into identical bricks in a wall. — 00:01:27 · education

    “We don't need no education, we don't need no thought control”

  • ★★★ John says the kids reject proper English with a double negative yet their meaning stays clear and powerful, which is the point of language, undermining the idea that proper English is superior. — 00:01:56

  • ★★★ John says language exists to facilitate expression, not limit it, and the kids reject an education that uses language to enforce uniformity and limit free expression. — 00:01:56 · education
  • ★★★ John says language does shape thought, so attempts to control language really are attempts at thought control. — 00:01:56

00:02:26 — All Star's 'didn't make sense not to live for fun' as an uncertain, conflicted line about fame

  • ★★ John says the negatives in All Star's 'didn't make sense not to live for fun' seem meant to cancel out; the plain version doesn't fit the meter, but he thinks something else may be going on. (hedged) — 00:02:26

    “didn't make sense not to live for fun”

  • ★★★ John says 'it makes sense to live for fun' would be a present-tense claim about how to live, while the lyric is a past-tense report of a failed way of living, which doesn't say the new way works. — 00:02:55

  • ★★ John says the double-negative line feels much more uncertain and conflicted, while 'it makes sense to live for fun' feels kind of naive. — 00:02:55
  • ★ John says he won't argue that All Star is a work of rock opera genius, then adds that it obviously is. (joke) — 00:02:55
  • ★★ John says that in the handwritten first draft of All Star, the lyric 'only shooting stars break the mold' originally read 'wave bye-bye to your soul'. — 00:03:24
  • ★★ John says All Star celebrates the excitement of being thought of as an all-star but is also a little wary of that excitement. — 00:03:24
  • ★★★ John thinks All Star might be a song about celebrity by people who didn't not want fame, which isn't quite wanting it; if so, its lyric is a great double negative. (hedged) — 00:03:24 · celebrity

In the description and comments

  • ★★ In a comment John points viewers asking about Partners in Health's COVID-19 response in Sierra Leone to a podcast with regular updates and interviews with healthcare workers. — creator comment · Partners In Health, Sierra Leone, COVID-19 pandemic
  • ★★ In a pinned correction John says he was partly wrong about Hebrew: its double negatives are complicated, and phrases like 'I'm not not tired' can mean the same as in English. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John points to Taika Waititi and others, including Meryl Streep and Cumberbatch, reading Roald Dahl's James and the Giant Peach to raise money for PIH. — creator comment · Partners In Health
  • ★★ In a comment John says Hank's wonderful book A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor comes out in under two months and can be preordered in the US while supporting a local bookstore. — creator comment · A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor, Hank Green
  • ★★ Answering a commenter, John says that, in his own subjective experience, finding language for abstract ideas helps him grasp them, so restricting his access to language would limit his thought. — creator comment
  • ★★ In a comment John says he will do a livestream about PIH's work in Sierra Leone later in the week, plus an evening livestream. — creator comment · Partners In Health, Sierra Leone
  • ★ Told in comments that the All Star lyric video titles keep coming, John playfully claims to have no idea what this refers to; to another commenter who noticed the lyric titles he says "You're on to us." (playful) — creator comment

Threads in this video

Where the stories that moved here went next

Mentioned

Central: All Star · double negative · negative concord

Also: Works: The Wall

Groups: Pink Floyd · Smash Mouth

Concepts: celebrity · education · English language · French language · Hebrew language · linguistic prescription · linguistic relativity · Portuguese language

Only in the description or credits: A Beautifully Foolish Endeavor · Another Brick in the Wall · Benedict Cumberbatch · COVID-19 pandemic · James and the Giant Peach · Meryl Streep · Partners In Health · Roald Dahl · Sierra Leone · Taika Waititi

Also centred on All Star: hey now · YOU'RE AN ALL STAR! · All That Glitters Is Gold · I ain't she was with well and I so and it's and but so and I'll and

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