this post was submitted on 11 Jan 2026
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me_irl

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[–] TheTechnician27@lemmy.world 27 points 8 hours ago

That's not what this double negation cancels to, though. The cancellation of "I can't believe it's not butter" is "I must/I'm compelled to believe it is butter". This is because you're saying you lack the power to believe that it is ~B, where B is the set of butter. Thus, because you're addressing that it exists (i.e. you have to believe it's something), you not only believe it is in set B but are powerless to do otherwise. ∎

See also: /r/isitbutter

I can't not believe I can't believe it's not butter, but when I do, I believe it.

[–] NorthWestWind@lemmy.world 3 points 7 hours ago

And then there's English's double negative which results in single negative somehow

"I ain't doing nothing" means "I am not doing anything"

[–] kali_fornication@lemmy.world 4 points 9 hours ago

but i'm not always so sure.....they should call it I Could Believe It Might Be Butter