... Not!: Difference between revisions
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One of the earliest uses was in the ''[[Princeton Tiger]]'' (March 30, 1893) 103: "An Historical Parallel-- Not." In 1905, it was used in the comic strip ''[[Dream of the Rarebit Fiend]]'' by [[Winsor McCay]]. A 1918 instance was "I am darn sorry not to be able to help you out with the News Letter, but in me you have a fund of information—NOT."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Telluride|date=10 April 1918|title=Letter from W. D. Whitney, Yale Reserve Officers' Training Corps, New Haven, Conn., March 13, 1918.|url=https://www.tellurideassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/04_8_1918_April.pdf|journal=Telluride News Letter|volume=4|issue=8 |pages=12|access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> |
One of the earliest uses was in the ''[[Princeton Tiger]]'' (March 30, 1893) 103: "An Historical Parallel-- Not." In 1905, it was used in the comic strip ''[[Dream of the Rarebit Fiend]]'' by [[Winsor McCay]]. A 1918 instance was "I am darn sorry not to be able to help you out with the News Letter, but in me you have a fund of information—NOT."<ref>{{Cite journal|last=Telluride|date=10 April 1918|title=Letter from W. D. Whitney, Yale Reserve Officers' Training Corps, New Haven, Conn., March 13, 1918.|url=https://www.tellurideassociation.org/wp-content/uploads/2017/05/04_8_1918_April.pdf|journal=Telluride News Letter|volume=4|issue=8 |pages=12|access-date=27 June 2019}}</ref> |
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Popularized in North America in the 1990s by the |
Popularized in North America in the 1990s by the ''[[Saturday Night Live]]'' sketch and subsequent film ''[[Wayne's World (film)|Wayne's World]],''<ref>{{cite journal|author=Jesse T. Sheidlower|author2=Jonathan E. Lighter|title=A Recent Coinage (Not!)|journal=American Speech|volume=68|number=2|date=Summer 1993|pages=213–218|doi=10.2307/455678|jstor=455678}}</ref> "not" was selected as the 1992 [[Word of the Year]] by the [[American Dialect Society]]. |
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The "Not!" catchphrase was the basis of a scene in the 2006 film ''[[Borat]]'', in which a lecturer in humour attempted to explain the grammatical construction to [[Borat Sagdiyev]] with limited success. |
The "Not!" catchphrase was the basis of a scene in the 2006 film ''[[Borat]]'', in which a lecturer in humour attempted to explain the grammatical construction to [[Borat Sagdiyev]] with limited success. |
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*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120112135806/http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxpostfi.html Postfix Not! in English] |
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20120112135806/http://alt-usage-english.org/excerpts/fxpostfi.html Postfix Not! in English] |
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*{{cite web |date=January 13, 1993 |url=http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/1992_words_of_the_year/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615064316/http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/1992_words_of_the_year/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 15, 2006|publisher=American Dialect Society|title=1992 Words of the Year}} |
*{{cite web |date=January 13, 1993 |url=http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/1992_words_of_the_year/|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060615064316/http://www.americandialect.org/index.php/amerdial/1992_words_of_the_year/|url-status=dead|archive-date=June 15, 2006|publisher=American Dialect Society|title=1992 Words of the Year}} |
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*{{cite journal|author=Jesse T. Sheidlower|author2=Jonathan E. Lighter|title=A Recent Coinage (Not!)|journal=American Speech|volume=68|number=2|date=Summer 1993|pages=213–218|doi=10.2307/455678|jstor=455678}} |
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*{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/magazine/on-language-not.html|title=On Language; Not!|date=March 8, 1992|last=Safire|first=William|author-link=William Safire|newspaper=The New York Times Magazine|page=20}} |
*{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/1992/03/08/magazine/on-language-not.html|title=On Language; Not!|date=March 8, 1992|last=Safire|first=William|author-link=William Safire|newspaper=The New York Times Magazine|page=20}} |
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Latest revision as of 18:09, 4 March 2025
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... Not! is a grammatical construction in the English language used as a function word to make negative a group of words or a word.[1] It became a sardonic catchphrase in North America and elsewhere in the 1990s. A declarative statement is made, followed by a pause, and then an emphatic "not!" adverb is postfixed. The result is a surprise negation of the original declarative statement.
According to the above, the phrase, "He is a nice guy... not!" is synonymous to "He is not a nice guy". Whereas the latter structure is a neutral observation, the former expresses rather an annoyance, and is most often used jocularly.
One of the earliest uses was in the Princeton Tiger (March 30, 1893) 103: "An Historical Parallel-- Not." In 1905, it was used in the comic strip Dream of the Rarebit Fiend by Winsor McCay. A 1918 instance was "I am darn sorry not to be able to help you out with the News Letter, but in me you have a fund of information—NOT."[2]
Popularized in North America in the 1990s by the Saturday Night Live sketch and subsequent film Wayne's World,[3] "not" was selected as the 1992 Word of the Year by the American Dialect Society.
The "Not!" catchphrase was the basis of a scene in the 2006 film Borat, in which a lecturer in humour attempted to explain the grammatical construction to Borat Sagdiyev with limited success.
See also
[edit]- Privative, a particle that inverts the meaning of the word stem to which it is affixed.
Notes
[edit]- ^ "Definition of NOT".
- ^ Telluride (April 10, 1918). "Letter from W. D. Whitney, Yale Reserve Officers' Training Corps, New Haven, Conn., March 13, 1918" (PDF). Telluride News Letter. 4 (8): 12. Retrieved June 27, 2019.
- ^ Jesse T. Sheidlower; Jonathan E. Lighter (Summer 1993). "A Recent Coinage (Not!)". American Speech. 68 (2): 213–218. doi:10.2307/455678. JSTOR 455678.
External links
[edit]- Postfix Not! in English
- "1992 Words of the Year". American Dialect Society. January 13, 1993. Archived from the original on June 15, 2006.
- Safire, William (March 8, 1992). "On Language; Not!". The New York Times Magazine. p. 20.
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