in a recent thread, I saw the phrase “Everyone is not convicted”, meaning “it is not true that everyone is convicted” as opposed to “No one is convicted”
I see this phrasing occasionally on political shows (all republicans are not pro life, meaning that there at lease some are pro choice)
and of course the standard “All that glitters is not gold”
The phrasing seems odd to me.
Is it correct formal English, accepted informal English, or something else?
Does it seem to be an odd turn of phrase for others, or is it just me?
(Mods, not sure there was a factual answer to this, but feel free to move it to GQ if appropriate)
I think the phrase was incorrectly constructed. Perhaps “Not everyone is convicted” would have better served to convey the essence of what you clarified.
In my Logic class, we had a chapter on formal Aristotelian Logic, with its “Square of Opposition” (analysis of the forms “All X are Y”, “No X is Y”, “Some X are Y”, “Some X are not Y”).
The phrasing “All X are not Y”, we were told, is a traditional phrasing that is an artifact of its literal translation from the original Greek (or Latin?) wording, where the phrase is not ambiguous as it is in English.
Even worse, in many, many advertisements you will see a disclaimer like “Advertised items are not available in all stores.” Why the heck are you adverting something that is not available in all your stores?
All Endless Bracelets shown on the website are not available in all stores.
Products not available in all stores.
Some items not available in all stores.
Photo cakes not available in all stores.
Such ambiguity is common in English. Consider “You can not smoke here.” Does that mean “smoking is not allowed” or “Not smoking is allowed”? The answer may seem obvious, but suppose you accompany your smoking friend to a smoking section and ask “Since I’m here, must I light up too?” Friend may answer “You can … not smoke”, but emphasizing can and not and leaving a pause between those words, the meaning flips!
In the English verb phrase “can smoke” there is only one place that “not” can be inserted. Some other languages allow the “not”-equivalent to be inserted at two or more places, allowing two or more separate meanings.