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I don't buy no drinks.

I saw this phrase in a song, and I'm not quite sure if it's correct I hope you'll help me find the answer. Thank you in advance.

herisson
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Orlan Sanchez
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5 Answers5

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As explained in the answer to a related question, it would be better to describe the sentence as "colloquial", "informal", "nonstandard" or "irregular", rather than "incorrect".

colloquial

adjective

(Of language) used in ordinary or familiar conversation; not formal or literary.

informal

1.1 Of or denoting a style of writing or conversational speech characterized by simple grammatical structures, familiar vocabulary, and use of idioms,

nonstandard

1.1 (Of language) not of the form that is accepted as standard.

irregular

2 Contrary to the rules or to that which is normal or established:

Though the double negative is ambiguous, the sentence communicates a meaningful idea with reasonable interpretive effort.

Community
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FG Magma
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  • Welcome to ELU, FG. This is a good response to the question. Since it is a question that has been answered many times on this site, we prefer simply to direct people to previous answers in comments. I've given you an up vote to help you along to the comment privilege. You should also add separate links for each of your definitions, and site your source. – ScotM Jul 14 '15 at 16:35
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No that isn't correct.

I don't buy drinks is right. The other way is sort of a double negative but not really. It's just wrong. Forgetting that it's a song for a moment then what they meant was I don't buy any drinks or I don't buy drinks.

RG13
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In 'standard' English this is a double negative. Songs very often use non-standard language and/or dialect. I think it's probably safe to say that, if you want to learn English, don't learn it from songs.

If someone speaking in my variety of English said it, I would take them literally and apply the extra negative as a negative.

Example

"You are very tight-fisted. When we come to the pub, you never buy drinks - no drinks at all."

"That's not true, I don't buy no drinks. On the contrary I often buy lots of drinks.

The phrase "I don't buy no drinks" in that exchange is equivalent to "I do buy some drinks."

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chasly - supports Monica
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It is not correct grammatically because you don't use double negatives,one is just enough,but if you say it in spoken language everyone will understand you even though it might sound weird.

Liza
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The speaker means "I don't buy any drinks" but it is common in sentences like that for some people to replace "any" with "no" to reinforce the negative and to hell with the fact it makes a double negative.

Strictly speaking, the words tell us nothing at all: he may buy drinks, he may not, all we know is that he does not buy none.

See Are double negatives ever appropriate in English? for more examples and info on double negatives.

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Avon
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  • I think given you clearly found an earlier question addressing this issue (and there are a lot), you should have closevoted as a duplicate, not answered. – FumbleFingers Jul 14 '15 at 16:18
  • @FumbleFingers The linked question is about double negatives. Unless the OP knows that's what they are called then: see here, response is a little dismissive don't you think? – Avon Jul 14 '15 at 16:20
  • No I don't. The fact that the *OP* might justifiably not have been able to find an earlier question on the same point doesn't mean this question should be answered. It should still be closed (but not deleted, since future questioners might perhaps find their way through this question to the "original", if they search for "don't buy no"). – FumbleFingers Jul 14 '15 at 16:24