What a difference a "not" makes

[whole diary]

[TonyK]

The Police would regard striking a bridge as driving with undue care and attention.

I think it more likely to be driving without due care and attention, which is subtly different.

[grahame]

The Police would regard striking a bridge as driving with undue care and attention.

I think it more likely to be driving without due care and attention, which is subtly different.

Love it .... so easy to do that.  I have received a "thank you" from Journey Makers ...

Thank you for volunteering with Journey Makers, Swindon Station would have been a success without you.

[bobm]

Of course it won't be long before police forces launch their Christmas Drink Drive campaigns.

[Red Squirrel]

I think ET was actually drawing attention to a near homophone: The offence, as TonyK points out, is 'driving without due care and attention', but human ears and brains being what they are a lot of us hear it as 'driving with undue care and attention'. Which is, as you say, the opposite. But neither form has a 'not'.

[Oxonhutch]

Not forgetting, of course, the Adulterous Bible of 1631. Cost the printer a fair bit of dosh back then.

[TonyK]

I recall one from an episode of the Archers that must have slipped unnoticed by the editor:
"That lad has turned his life around 360 degrees".

[Red Squirrel]

Possibly apocryphal, but I seem to remember a politician in the distant past who reportedly stated that we were standing on the edge of a precipice, only to add shortly afterwards that his proposal would constitute a giant leap forwards.

[Richard Fairhurst]

Or John Prescott's wonderful "The Green Belt is a Labour achievement, and we intend to build on it."

[stuving]

The lack of reaction can be a surprise. I remember hearing a clip of Dave Nellist speaking in parliament, in which he slipped up over a not and said the opposite of what he meant. No reaction in parliament, nor in the press etc, and Hansard often correct that kind of slip. Of course with Dave Nellist you didn't need to listen to his words to know what he would have said, so probably no-one did.

[TonyK]

I was at the back of Bristol Magistrates Court one Friday afternoon, as a colleague was called to give evidence. He took the oath and got ready to say his two penn'orth, when the clerk stopped him. "Did you just say "The truth, the whole truth, and anything but the truth"?" he asked. My friend was sure he said "nothing but the truth". I had been reading a Viz comic inside a prosecution file, so hadn't noticed. The magistrates probably were too, because they couldn't be sure. The usher's hearing aid wasn't working that day. After much discussion, he took the oath again, this time slowly and clearly, doing a pretty good Brian Blessed as King Lear in the process.

[Bmblbzzz]

I had been reading a Viz comic inside a prosecution file, so hadn't noticed.

[TonyK]

I had been reading a Viz comic inside a prosecution file, so hadn't noticed.

Not without danger. I still recall the point where I reached the "Readers' Tips" column, and read "Buy onions instead of apples - they are cheaper, and last much longer". I had to leave the room, pretending to cough.

[rower40]

Possibly apocryphal, but I seem to remember a politician in the distant past who reportedly stated that we were standing on the edge of a precipice, only to add shortly afterwards that his proposal would constitute a giant leap forwards.

It was a standing joke in the Soviet Union in the 1970's and early 1980's; "Capitalism is on the brink of the abyss; Communism, is, as ever, one step ahead".

[TonyK]

It was a standing joke in the Soviet Union in the 1970's and early 1980's; "Capitalism is on the brink of the abyss; Communism, is, as ever, one step ahead".

Or as George W Bush said in 2004:

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we

[stuving]

It was a standing joke in the Soviet Union in the 1970's and early 1980's; "Capitalism is on the brink of the abyss; Communism, is, as ever, one step ahead".

Or as George W Bush said in 2004:

Our enemies are innovative and resourceful, and so are we. They never stop thinking about new ways to harm our country and our people, and neither do we

Little did poor old George W know ...