What Does This Mean? Someone Translate Please?

[arwalden]

"I couldn't possibly fail to disagree with you less."


Is the one who makes this statement in agreement or disagreement? Clearly, I haven't yet had enough coffee to make sense of all the u-turns and double reversing negatives.

-- Allen

[trof]

1. I think it means

"close cover before striking".

[beawr]

2. Now my head hurts

Damn you.

[Rabrrrrrr]

3. Means he couldn't disagree with you more

He really disagrees with you.

I suggest you put a pickaxe through his forehead, since he obviously is unaware of your intelligence and inability to be wrong, the bastard.

[DS1]

4. It's non-committal in my opinion

If you strip 'fail to' you end up with "I couldn't possibly disagree with you less" which would indicate full agreement. Adding the fail to only adds some disagreement but fails to indicate total disagreement.

So it's a non-answer, I've heard it before, I think that's the purpose of it.

[Bill McBlueState]

18. speaking of agreement, I think DS1 has it

Reminds me of Bilbo's line in Fellowship of the Ring:

I like less than half of you half as well as you deserve

[DS1]

24. Agreed

By the time the target of such a phrase figures it out, you're long gone.

I'm hereby staking my claim as the first person to get it right. :evilgrin:

[jpgray]

32. THE FINAL WORD (I hope)

I think it's ambiguous. If you can't fail to disagree, that means you disagree. If you can't fail to do something, you must succeed at it. So you read it as "I can disagree less"--pretty meaningless. If you can't fail to do something less, it means you can do it less. So it means "I can disagree less" as well.

THE TRANSLATION:

I can disagree less

Whatcha think, folks?

[DS1]

34. That's what I said!

:evilgrin:

#4 baby!

[jpgray]

37. Yes, but my slow-witted pate had to gook up the thread with more posts

:D

[jpgray]

27. But that line has a clear translation!

It just means he thinks he should like the hobbits he dislikes more, because they deserve to be liked more.

[DS1]

33. Perhaps, but not being clear isn't the intent

It's to make you have to work it out, shut you up for a while allowing whomever said to get the hell outta here or change the topic of conversation

[jpgray]

35. I agree there, I disagree that it is ambiguous (nt)

[arwalden]

40. "Truly you have a dizzying intellect."

"Wait til I get going!"

-- Allen

[Guaranteed]

30. There are at least two ways you can interpret the sentence.

The way I took it was that "(I couldn't possibly) (fail to disagree) (with you less)," which can be simplified to "I couldn't possibly agree with you less."

However, I think it can also be split up this way: "(I couldn't possibly fail to) (disagree with you less)." That can be simplified to: "I have to (or 'I must') disagree with you less." Which...if it isn't just nonsense....means that "I have to agree with you more than previously." It sounds like nonsense to me though, taken that way.

There could be other ways to split it up, too.

[jpgray]

5. It means they agree with you (I think)

Start with "I couldn't disagree with you less", which means I mostly agree with you. If they can't *fail* to mostly agree with you, that means they succeed at agreement with you. The phrase is confusing as hell, but that's my go at it.

[jpgray]

7. Wait, scratch that

Failure to disagree means agreement, and if they can't do that less, that means solid, total disagreement. Sorry for the above, must be tired today. :P

[jpgray]

20. Wait, though--maybe it IS ambiguous

"I couldn't fail to disagree" means disagreement, so wouldn't "I couldn't fail to disagree less" then mean agreement? If you can't fail to do something, that means you will succeed. So "I couldn't fail to disagree" means "I will disagree", but adding the "less" necessarily would make it a term of agreement?

I'm changing back to agreement, I suppose.

[TrogL]

39. Failure to disagree is not agreement

If Dubya announces the sky is green, I'm not going to agree, I'm not going to disagree, I'm going to go look.

[Shrek]

6. Utter disagreement

There's no room for any more disagreement than already exists.

[trof]

8. Or it could be

a quadruple negative which, if you say it out loud, will stop the earth's rotation.
I'm pretty sure.

[arwalden]

12. Clearly...

you've been watching too many episodes of "Bewitched". (Because that makes total sense to me.)

-- Allen

[Ganja Ninja]

9. Is this a quote from Bush or Rummy?

It sounds like Rummy.

[Loonman]

10. I totally and completely

I totally and completely deny ever denying my previous denial.

I also do not deny ever having denied my or any other denials that have been previously denied by myself and others.

[jpgray]

11. Put more "nots" in there

I think statistically students are tripped up more by simple "not" questions than anything else on exams.

[Guaranteed]

14. This sentence is false. nt

[Loonman]

23. Yes it is

Correct.

:thumbsup:

[Guaranteed]

25. But then it's true!

Hee hee :)

[Guaranteed]

13. That's a difficult one.

The phrase centers around "failing to disagree," which, taken by itself, means that the person agrees with you. So, one should be able to change the sentence to "I couldn't possibly agree with you less," which is fairly clear in its meaning. :)

[Sperk]

15. 4 negatives = a postive???

n/t

[Fridays Child]

16. The speaker is sure that he or she completely agrees with you.

I think. :shrug:

[supernova]

17. Have to get back to you

on that one. :crazy:

[Kellanved]

19. ok

Ich kann unmöglich darin versagen, weniger mit Ihnen übereinzustimmen.

:evilgrin:

[supernova]

21. Cheater!

:P

[Kellanved]

36. guilty as charged

One honest attempt: he completely disagrees. However I'm thinking about this in German, a language allowing double negatives.

[jpgray]

22. Now do it in Basque! (nt)

[Kellanved]

31. well,

I wish I could. However I went with (my extremly poor) French when I was in the Basque region a few years ago.

[supernova]

26. My Stab at it...

The speaker is stating total disagreement with you.

Break it down this way:

I couldn't possbily fail to disagree with you

OK, sounds like agreement right? Then comes that word less. Ahh...

It negates the entire previous meaning. So now it means: "I'm as far away from your opinion as I can possibly be."

I am sure there is an alternate parody sentence of this, but I can't think what it is.

Interesting puzzle. Thanks, Allen. :thumbsup:

edit: code

[arwalden]

38. It's A Puzzle All Right... But I Wasn't Testing Anyone

Honestly, I did not know the answer---and even with your detailed explanation and the equally convincing explanations of others---I'm still not certain if I'm completely convinced one way or the other.

Is it something that could correctly be interpreted two different ways? I just don't know.

-- Allen

[fob]

28. That means YOU WON the argument, he/she concedes.

I couldn't fail to congratulate you less!!

[terrya]

29. It means "I agree with you". I think. Not the decisive answer you wanted..

Sorry.