Grammaraticianing

[triadruid]

Based on a conversation the other day, humor me.

[Poll #1236826]

Comments

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

There's no 'get away with' in any of those constructions in my brain.

"I can often not-X" means that I can often do a thing with is the opposite of X.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Except in the first one, I think, which could, given the context. "Because my baby-sitter is my daughter, I can often not pay her." That means I can get away with not doing it, not that I often do pay her.

[featherynscale.livejournal.com]

Ok. For some reason I am not processing the 'get away with it' connotation of 'can'. Carry on.

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

It's not with the "can," though. The construct is that "not-pay" becomes the opposite of "pay." What can you do? You can not-pay.

[margaretq.livejournal.com]

I am stuck there too. I often cannot open this web site... I often can not get this stupid thing to work. I can not often deal with the dingbats that call my work (that is a BAD sentence). I cannot often make time to do X with my stupid schedule....
that's how I read this...

[fionnabhar.livejournal.com]

Or might the construct be "I can often (as) not X", with the "as" elided in speech? Huh.