History Main / ConfusingMultipleNegatives

* On the "Farthingale" episode of ''Series/{{Life}}'', Crews and fDani find out that the victim of the week was searching "not for the man not breaking the law, but for the man not ''not'' breaking the law." They eventually work it out.

-->'''Olive'''; Take a letter.\\

* London Mayor UsefulNotes/BorisJohnson won the 2004 Foot in Mouth award with this gem on ''Series/HaveIGotNewsForYou'': "I could not fail to disagree with you less."

It's not impossible [[labelnote:4]]"possible"[[/labelnote]] to make a StealthInsult with this type of dialogue, by failing to resist not avoiding insulting [[labelnote:5]]"going ahead and insulting"[[/labelnote]] someone in a way that they're incapable of being unoffended by [[labelnote:6]]you know will offend them[[/labelnote]]. Alternatively, as in a SarcasticConfession, it's not impossible [[labelnote:7]]"possible"[[/labelnote]] to not promise you didn't do [[labelnote:8]]"admit"[[/labelnote]] something while not appearing to avoid denying [[labelnote:9]]"admitting"[[/labelnote]] it. This trope is not entirely unrelated to [[labelnote:10]]"is related to"[[/labelnote]] SuspiciouslySpecificDenial. Also not uncommon [[labelnote:11]]"common"[[/labelnote]] where ExactWords isn't known not to be [[labelnote:12]]"is"[[/labelnote]] in play. IKnowYouKnowIKnow conveys a similar degree of semantic confusion. This is also not dissimilar [[labelnote:13]]"similar"[[/labelnote]] to [[NoMeansYes No Does Not Avoid Meaning Yes]][[labelnote:14]]"No Means Yes"[[/labelnote]].

* The page quote is one of several ridiculously elaborate examples spouted by Pinocchio in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''. Prince Charming interrogates him about Shrek's location since Pinocchio, of course, can't lie.[[note]]Or rather, he ''can'', but he always gives himself away.[[/note]] Pinocchio tries to twist the truth and worm his way out of the interrogation with convoluted, circular explanations without actually admitting any concrete information such as confirming whether or not he even knows where Shrek is. It seems to be working since Charming can't puzzle out the puppet's meaning, until eventually, Pinnochio's baffling multi-negatives frustrate the Three Little Pigs so much that one of them [[SayingTooMuch accidentally blurts it out]].

** In "Homer the Vigilante", Homer ''tries'' to pull this off when he's interviewed on TV and Kent Brockman asks him what he has to say to accusations that his vigilante group is causing more crimes than it's preventing. Homer then "slyly" responds with, "Oh, Kent - I'd be lying if I said my men ''weren't'' committing crimes" - Brockman clearly isn't fooled, but doesn't press the issue.

** Even the official United States constitution can get like this, what with "no person who shall not have attained the age of [[[YouMakeMeSic whatever]]] and who shall not have been a citizen for [x amount of years] shall be eligible to run for [whatever office]. Makes reading the article annoying.

* The page quote is one of several ridiculously elaborate examples spouted by Pinocchio in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''. Prince Charming interrogates him about Shrek's location since Pinocchio, of course, can't lie.[[note]]Or rather, he ''can'', but he always gives himself away.[[/note]] Pinocchio tries to twist the truth and worm his way out of the interrogation with convoluted excuses. It seems to be working until eventually, his baffling multi-negatives frustrate the Three Little Pigs so much that one of them [[SayingTooMuch accidentally blurts it out]].

* ''VideoGame/BabaIsYou'' has a level where you are given nine "Not" keywords. The point is to use them to make a sentence across an impassable obstacle.

* SelfDemonstrating/{{Bizarro}} and ComicBook/{{Bizarrogirl}} from the ''Franchise/{{Superman}}'' comics are easy to understand, in theory: Bizarros say the opposite of what's true. Some writers don't seem to understand this absurdly simple concept, and have them speak in absurd chains of multiple-negatives, making it impossible to understand what Bizarros are trying to say. On top of that, Bizarro also varies from just backwards to stupid to ''actually evil,'' meaning that even if you figure out ''what he's supposed to be saying,'' it ''still'' might be the opposite of what's actually ''true.''

* ''Fanfic/TheUnfantasticAdventuresOfBizarroNo1'' is set in [[BizarroUniverse Htrae]] and the action is narrated by SelfDemonstrating/{{Bizarro}}, so double negatives pop up every so often.

* ''WesternAnimation/TheAdventuresOfJimmyNeutronBoyGenius'': One episode has a now-genius-level Sheen do the "Not Not Not" variant to the teacher in hopes of getting out of class (he does), as does Jimmy to follow him. Later [[SubvertedTrope subverted]] when Carl tries this tactic (involving the word "disexcused"), but the teach simply replies with "PLANT IT!"

* The page quote is one of several ridiculously elaborate examples spouted by Pinocchio in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''. Prince Charming interrogates him about Shrek's location since Pinocchio, of course, can't lie.[[note]]Or rather, he ''can'', but he always gives himself away.[[/note]] Pinocchio tries to twist the truth and worm his way out of the interrogation with convoluted excuses. It seems to be working until eventually, his baffling multi-negatives frustrate the Three Little Pigs so much that one of them accidentally blurts it out.

* The page quote is one of several ridiculously elaborate examples spouted by Pinocchio in ''WesternAnimation/ShrekTheThird''. Prince Charming demands him to tell him Shrek's location since Pinocchio, of course, can't lie.[[note]]Or rather, he ''can'', but he always gives himself away.[[/note]] Pinocchio tries to twist the truth and worm his way out of the interrogation with convoluted excuses. It seems to be working until eventually, his baffling multi-negatives frustrate the Three Little Pigs so much that one of them accidentally blurts it out.

* A weird variation occurs in ''Webcomic/{{Freefall}}'': A robot is programmed to '''not''' obey non-human orders. Florence orders it '''not''' to tell her what she wants to know, and as it's programmed to disobey, it does not not answer[[note]]it answers[[/note]] her question. Then Sam gets in on the act.

'''Simmons:''' That was like a... quadruple negative.

* Overlapping with AmbigiousSyntax: the sentence "No head injury is too trivial to ignore". It's clearly meant to mean "All head injuries should be taken seriously" but, due to the odd wording, has at least ''three'' alterative meanings: that all head injuries are trivial and should be ignored, that not having a head injury is too trivial to ignore, or even that [[MindScrew not having a head injury is so trivial you can't ignore it.]]

** It's confusing because "!" is the negative, so the line of code is saying "not the state is not Colorado and the city is not Denver", or, more simply, "the state is Colorado and the city is Denver". It'd be better to write it like this:
---> state == "Colorado" && city == "Denver"

** In "Homer the Vigilante", Homer ''tries'' to pull this off when he's interviewed on TV and Kent Brockman asks him what he has to say to accusations that his vigilante group is causing more crimes than it's preventing. Homer then "slyly" responds with, "Oh, Kent - I'd be lying if I said my men ''weren't'' committing crimes" - Brockman ''very clearly'' isn't fooled, but doesn't press the issue.