XPost: rec.puzzles, alt.usage.english   
   From: HenHanna@devnull.tb   
      
   This use of  (inserted)  [... Not really...]  has been common   
             at least since the  1960's   
                                           esp. for teenagers.   
      
      
   ___________here, Hemingway used it  in a short story   
                        entitled   "Night Before Battle"   
      
                                  (This use is not typical.  Not really)   
      
                       ..............   
                       ..............   
                       ..............   
      
   “That’s the same way you said ‘Casa del Campo.’’’   
      
   “Yeah,” he said. “I laugh every time I think of that.” Then he went on,   
   “You see, now, they’re not frightened of tanks anymore. Nobody is. We   
   aren’t either.   
   But they’re still useful. Really useful. Only with the anti-tank now   
   they’re so damn vulnerable. Maybe I ought to be in something else. Not   
   really. Because they’re still useful. But the way they are now you’ve   
   got to have a vocation for them. You got to have a lot of political   
   development to be a good tank man now.”   
      
   “You’re a good tank man.”   
      
          “I’d like to be something else tomorrow,” he said. “I’m   
   talking   
   awfully wet but you have a right to talk wet if it isn’t going to hurt   
   anybody else. You know I like tanks too,     only we don’t use them   
   right because the infantry don’t know enough yet.   ...........   
      
      
      
      
   ___________________________________Subject: not really  /   really not   
   Date: Mon, 27 May 2024 07:17:00 +0000   
   From: tonbei    
   Newsgroups: alt.usage.english   
      
   I have a question about the following sentences from a novel.   
      
               He(Marino) inflicted an injury   
               that can't ever heal, not really, and   
               Lucy just made it worse.   
                       ("Book of the Dead" by Patricia Cornwell, p268)   
      
      
      
   context (or situation):   
   1) Marino inflicted an injury on Scarpetta, but she kept it to herself.   
   2) Rather, she covered for him, and didn't accuse him.   
   3) Knowing this, Lucy, her niece, got angry and condemned her weak attitude.   
      
   4）Lucy realized that she had distressed her aunt by doing so, although   
   she should have comforted the aunt.   
      
      
   question: about "not really"   
      
   "really not" emphasizes  "not", but I can't be sure of the meaning of   
   "not really."   
      
   I guess "not really" might have an effect to soften the tone of the   
   previous sentence.   
      
   If so, "Not really would mean: "In fact the injury inflicted by Marino   
   was not so severe that it can't be cured.  Rather, what Lucy did could   
   get it worse. "   
      
                     I may be confused.  What do you say?   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)