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0 pointsJudgmentality5y ago0 comments

> > I make no pretense that I don’t despise the bitcoin philosophy

> Erroneous double negative here, does he even proofread his own work?

I think he got this part right.

I make [no] pretense that I do [not] despise the bitcoin philosophy ---> I {admit} that I do despise the bitcoin philosophy.

Unfortunately, this is one of those weird English phrases where the more you look at it, the weirder it is. I'm actually less confident of this now having written it out and reread it multiple times.

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jtbayly5y ago

You're right, he's right, but your analysis is not helpful, actually.

"I make no pretense..." means "I don't claim to..." For example, "I make no pretense at being an bitcoin expert" means "I don't claim to be a bitcoin expert."

So here's some more helpful analysis:

"I don't claim to despise BTC" means I like it.

"I don't claim to not despise BTC" means I don't like it.

Thus, "I make no pretense to not despise BTC" means I don't like it.

timerol5y ago

See my sibling comment's edit. "I make no pretense at being a bitcoin expert" can mean both "I don't claim to be a bitcoin expert" and "I am an authentic bitcoin expert" depending on context.

jtbayly5y ago

Yes. I see your edit. I'll only add that although second meaning is certainly allowed by the words, in practice the phrase is understood in the first sense.

timerol5y ago

I think you've got it backwards. I'm counting it as a quadruple negative when considering "despise" and "pretense" meaning deception. "Make no pretense" means the same thing as "admit", not the logical opposite. Some equivalent statements to the original:

I make no pretense that I respect the bitcoin philosophy.

Edit: I made an bad logical leap here. The statement can only be interpreted about how the author pretends, and not the author's actual position. So everything after this edit is suspect. All we can say is that the author does not pretend to like bitcoin. The statement doesn't say anything about the author's actual opinions of bitcoin, though that is very clear from the article.

I make a pretense that I despise the bitcoin philosophy.

I admit that I don't despise the bitcoin philosophy.

I admit that I respect the bitcoin philosophy.

jtbayly5y ago

(edit: the below was written before the parent's edit. Still useful for understanding how that phrase works, though, so I'm leaving it.)

Part of the problem with your analysis is that "I make no pretense" is itself a phrase actually is a single negative in use. It means "I don't claim."

"I make no pretense of liking BTC" could technically mean "I am not pretending to like Bitcoin" as in "I'm not pretending to like BTC. I really do like it." But that's not what it means in practice. It means "I don't like BTC, and I like it so little that I'm not even going to pretend to like it."

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

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jtbayly5y ago

You're right, he's right, but your analysis is not helpful, actually.

"I make no pretense..." means "I don't claim to..." For example, "I make no pretense at being an bitcoin expert" means "I don't claim to be a bitcoin expert."

So here's some more helpful analysis:

"I don't claim to despise BTC" means I like it.

"I don't claim to not despise BTC" means I don't like it.

Thus, "I make no pretense to not despise BTC" means I don't like it.

timerol5y ago

See my sibling comment's edit. "I make no pretense at being a bitcoin expert" can mean both "I don't claim to be a bitcoin expert" and "I am an authentic bitcoin expert" depending on context.

jtbayly5y ago

Yes. I see your edit. I'll only add that although second meaning is certainly allowed by the words, in practice the phrase is understood in the first sense.

timerol5y ago

I make no pretense that I respect the bitcoin philosophy.

I make a pretense that I despise the bitcoin philosophy.

I admit that I don't despise the bitcoin philosophy.

I admit that I respect the bitcoin philosophy.

jtbayly5y ago

(edit: the below was written before the parent's edit. Still useful for understanding how that phrase works, though, so I'm leaving it.)

Part of the problem with your analysis is that "I make no pretense" is itself a phrase actually is a single negative in use. It means "I don't claim."

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse