Hi, Paul!  Recently you wrote in a message to Ardith Hinton:   
      
    AH>  Q.  Who was that lady I saw you with last night?   
    AH>  A.  That was no lady, that was my wife.   
                -- a joke I heard from my father, when I was a   
                kid and "lady" was not synonymous with "woman"   
      
    PQ>  Same with me.  In support of my point I'm thinking that   
    PQ>  that was from Groucho Marx film.   
      
      
              Groucho Marx may well have used it, but the earliest known   
   reference to a variation on the theme dates back to the late nineteenth   
   century & at this point it's difficult to be sure who said it first.  Some   
   folks theorize that it originated in the English music halls.  If the idea was   
   widely adopted in other English-speaking countries, though, the history is   
   even more uncertain....  :-)   
      
      
      
    AH>  WRT connotation, Anton summarized neatly what I had in   
    AH>  mind there: the "no" version comes aross as stronger &   
    AH>  more emotional to me as well.   
      
    PQ>  Not for me.  But language is very much a personal   
    PQ>  interpretation and expression of worldly things.   
      
      
              Connotations may be general, personal, or both.  I probably   
   wouldn't have thought about that aspect if Anton hadn't mentioned it... but   
   when he did, I realized he'd put into words what was in the back of my mind.    
   It seems to me you were getting +/- the same impression, then began to doubt   
   yourself....  :-)   
      
      
      
    AH>  If the "no" version rubs you the wrong way, I think   
    AH>  that's because you see some exaggeration... as I do   
    AH>  in what I quoted above.   
      
    PQ>  No, I simply see it as an error in personal choice.   
      
      
              Okay... let me rephrase that.  The "no" version sounds more   
   emphatic because it's shorter, for one thing.  Usually there is no need to add   
   emphasis. But in situations where somebody is saying, in effect, "Don't put me   
   [or person xxx] in this or that pigeonhole" they may use it consciously or   
   subconsciously.   
      
              WRT the example Alexander cited I see a further complication in   
   that we don't know exactly what these people said.  Songwriters, comedians,   
   and news reporters often have a vested interest in arousing the audience's   
   emotions.  If you know what they're up to, you can decide to go along with it   
   or not....  ;-)   
      
      
      
    PQ>  When it comes time to pull such a 'standard' response   
    PQ>  I would opt for "not a".   
      
      
              The "not a" version is much more common, and I'd recommend it as   
   the first choice in the vast majority of situations.  The "no" version is so   
   rarely used that it took me a couple of days to think of five examples....  :-)   
      
      
      
    AH>  In the last two examples I cited, a person who knows   
    AH>  the accused quite well is challenging the accuser(s)   
    AH>  to look more closely at the situation & draw conclusions   
    AH>  on an individual basis.  :-)   
      
    PQ>  My oh my.  I knew you would have fun with this thought   
    PQ>  teaser of Alexander's.  ;)   
      
      
              Yes, I did.  Alexander asks good questions.  But IMHO the input   
   from other readers is important too.  I can have fun playing with the grammar   
   all by myself, but I do my best work when folks like you add their own   
   ideas....  :-))   
      
      
      
      
   --- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+   
    * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)