negative or positive meaning

[edmondjanet]

Hello everyone,
She won't have you doing no cooking in here.
She won't wait for no excuses. I read this in a story book. Here, two negatives "won't and no" so,does it mean positive? If it is negative meaning, does it need "no" ?
Thank you.

 

[Jenniferhu]

Hello everyone,
She won't have you doing no cooking in here. Negative. She can't stand you doing nothing in the kitchen.
She won't wait for no excuses. Negative, same as "She won't wait for any excuses".
Thank you.

Let's see if I'm right or not. ;-)

JH
*****
AN ENGLISH LEARNER

 

[5jj]

Only context will tell you whether the first one is 'sub-standard' English. If it is, then the 'no' should be 'any' in standard English.The second would make no sense if it were standard English so, the 'no' should be read as 'any'.

 

[Tdol]

Hello everyone,
Here, two negatives "won't and no" so,does it mean positive?

In colloquial language a double negative is almost always negative. People who say that two negatives must be positive are using a bizarre analogy with multiplying negative numbers:

-2 x -2 = 4
But -2 + -2 = -4

There's no reason to assume that double negatives should follow the rules of multiplication, or any rules of maths, but addition would be more natural IMO. Of a million people saying I ain't got nobody, it would be difficult to find one of them who meant that they were in a relationship. Double negatives as negatives should be avoided in formal language, exams, etc, but to say that they are positive is simply inaccurate IMO.