Not for me they don't!

AvangiDo you think it's idiomatic on some level?

Yes.

CJ

AvangiI'm sure I've been saying it all my life.

Me too.

Hi Avangi,

I've always wanted to have someone explain this kind of saying to me. It's a bit confused to soemone who's not a native. Because you have "Not" at the beginning of a sentence, which ends with "negative' words.

Ex. This is my house. (reply) "Not for another 2 hours it isn't." Does that mean "you could have your house back in 2 hours"?

Thanks

Tina

tinanam0102 Does that mean "you could have your house back in 2 hours"?

That's absolutely the way I would take it.

Hi Avangi,

Thank you very much.

Regards,

Tinanam

Hi, Avangi

Your sentence made me think of South Park and I remembered hearing this sentence in one of its numerous episodes: "Not anymore you're not"

I looked it up and it seems a very popular phrase

MrPernickety "Not anymore you're not"

Right. Sometimes the form has a threatening tone.

My original post should have been a statement instead of a question, since that's the way it's most often used:

"These things work perfectly!" (reply) "Not for me they don't."

That formulation seems to me to be no more anomalous than
-- Does that work for you?
-- No, it doesn't.

Both "no" and "it doesn't" say the same thing. But that wouldn't suggest to us we should "correct" it thus:
-- Does that work for you?
-- Yes, it doesn't.

In the statement "Not for me it doesn't", "not for me" and "it doesn't" say t

Hi CaliJim,

The comma helps.

Thank you.

Tinanam

CalifJim "not for me" and "it doesn't" say the same thing twice in much the same way, to my ear

That's the thing that gives one pause. These negative structures seem to require a case-by-case treatment, and few of them are happy with the double negative.

(I mean to say that each str