Not half

[blacknomi]

A: Did you have a good time?
B: Not half.
==> B means he had a really good time. To my knowledge, I would explain it as B had a mix feeling of happiness and unhappiness. My question here is why didn't B answer directly like "Yep, I did." It reminds me of another question.

A: How was the movie?
B : Not bad.
==> In this case, I'd explain it as so-so, not good enough to see but not too bad though. Is that right?


The negative "not" in both examples gives me somewhat a negative idea.(AaaaaaRG, I have limited vocab)

[PammyLorel]

A: Did you have a good time?
B: Not half.
==> B means he had a really good time. To my knowledge, I would explain it as B had a mix feeling of happiness and unhappiness. My question here is why didn't B answer directly like "Yep, I did." It reminds me of another question.

A: How was the movie?
B : Not bad.
==> In this case, I'd explain it as so-so, not good enough to see but not too bad though. Is that right?


The negative "not" in both examples gives me somewhat a negative idea.(AaaaaaRG, I have limited vocab)

"Not half" means "Not half bad" which means something is good (less than 50% bad)

"Not bad" means it was good

[MikeNewYork]

A: Did you have a good time?
B: Not half.
==> B means he had a really good time. To my knowledge, I would explain it as B had a mix feeling of happiness and unhappiness. My question here is why didn't B answer directly like "Yep, I did." It reminds me of another question.

A: How was the movie?
B : Not bad.
==> In this case, I'd explain it as so-so, not good enough to see but not too bad though. Is that right?


The negative "not" in both examples gives me somewhat a negative idea.(AaaaaaRG, I have limited vocab)

I have not heard the first one. I don't think the statement is consistent with having a really good time.

"Not bad" is an example of litotes. It is the negation of a negative to make a moderate positive. "Not bad" is not as good as great, but it is better than OK or pretty good.

[blacknomi]

not half UK INFORMAL
used in spoken English to express a positive statement more strongly:
It wasn't half crowded in the club last night (= It was very crowded).
She didn't half shout at him (= She shouted a lot at him)!
"You enjoyed yourself last night, didn't you?" "Not half (= Very much)!"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/defi...&dict=CALD

PammyLorel, your answer is much appreciated. As DictionaryCambridge, in my humble opinion, it's not less than 50% bad. What do you say? :wink:

AH, so-ga. "Not bad" is better than "pretty good". I have to de-fossilze the interlingual mistakes that have embeded chronically in my left hemisphere now. :)

I have one more question, how can I place order to extremely/pretty/totally/very/quite from greatest extent?

Extremely different.
Pretty different.
Totally different.
Very different.
Quite different.

[Susie Smith]

not half UK INFORMAL
used in spoken English to express a positive statement more strongly:
It wasn't half crowded in the club last night (= It was very crowded).
She didn't half shout at him (= She shouted a lot at him)!
"You enjoyed yourself last night, didn't you?" "Not half (= Very much)!"
http://dictionary.cambridge.org/defi...&dict=CALD

PammyLorel, your answer is much appreciated. As DictionaryCambridge, in my humble opinion, it's not less than 50% bad. What do you say? :wink:

AH, so-ga. "Not bad" is better than "pretty good". I have to de-fossilze the interlingual mistakes that have embeded chronically in my left hemisphere now. :)

I have one more question, how can I place order to extremely/pretty/totally/very/quite from greatest extent?

Extremely different.
Pretty different.
Totally different.
Very different.
Quite different.

I copied and pasted the definition below from The American Heritage Dictionary.

not half. Not at all: “Fancy housing? Not half likely, ma'am” (Russell Baker).

I think Mike meant that "not bad" means "pretty good" or "better than simply OK".

[Tdol]

I thought it meant 'not half but 100%', or something like that. In the UK, it's quite a strong expression.

[MikeNewYork]

I thought it meant 'not half but 100%', or something like that. In the UK, it's quite a strong expression.

You are a strange people.

[Tdol]

We say 'cheap at half the price', which really makes no sense at all.

[MikeNewYork]

We say 'cheap at half the price', which really makes no sense at all.

I've heard that here, too.

[Susie Smith]

I thought it meant 'not half but 100%', or something like that. In the UK, it's quite a strong expression.

So:
AE = negative meaning
BE = positive meaning

Right? :?