Why "no" rather than "not" in "Life is no Nintendo game"?

Question

I've just seen this sentence on the internet...

You don't get another chance. Life is no Nintendo game.
— Love the Way You Lie

If I had to say something like that, I would say "Life is not a Nintendo game."

Why did he say "no"? What is more correct? and what is the difference?

See also http://english.stackexchange.com/questions/7744/is-it-is-no-calculus-correct-grammar — GEdgar, Jun 17 '12 at 17:13
possible duplicate of "Does not make changes" or "makes no changes" — James Waldby - jwpat7, Jun 17 '12 at 17:24
Also see What is the difference between no and not?, and When to use no good, when to use not good, and Is it not that big a deal vs no big deal, and There is no rule vs there isn't rule, and Rules for no and not, besides aforementioned Does not make changes or makes no changes, — James Waldby - jwpat7, Jun 17 '12 at 17:26
possible duplicate of "There is no rule" vs. "there isn't rule" — MrHen, Oct 24 '13 at 14:27

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Jun 15 '20 at 07:40

This is a common idiom that is subtly different from the regular use of no and not. It’s used to make a comparison against an ideal or standard thing, and is often used to compare skills:

He’s no “king of comedy”, but Dane Cook can make people laugh.

Michael Bublé is a pretty good singer, but he’s no Frank Sinatra.

Your example sentence is saying you don’t get another chance because life is not a Nintendo game—though ideally it would be, because everybody wants a second chance at life.

This is also used with negative descriptions to cast someone in a positive light. “She’s no fool” means “she’s actually very wise/savvy”. Occasionally you also see it used in a rhetorical way, to give the reader a negative expectation but “surprise” them with a positive description:

He’s no Nikola Tesla—he’s even smarter than that!

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Jun 17 '12 at 17:02

2

Neither is more correct. They both mean the same thing, however using "no" gives it more intriguing feel, and "not a" gives a cold definite statement.

answered Jun 17 '12 at 17:02

Wolf5370

458

score 1 · Answer 3 · answered Oct 24 '13 at 03:24

He is no Albert Einstein - In this case Albert Einstein becomes a type of person. ( Smart people can be compared to Albert Einstein. He is not among those people)

He is not Albert Einstein - In this case we are talking about Albert Einstein the person. ( He is John Smith, not Albert Einstein )

score 1 · Answer 4 · answered Jun 17 '12 at 17:34

When a noun has an non-gradable meaning (it is either something or it is not) we cannot use "no" + noun.

A potato is not a fruit.
~~A potato is no fruit~~.

When a noun has a gradable meaning, "no" + noun means the same as "not a/an" + noun:

It's no secret that we are interested. (=It's not a secret. A secret is gradable. Something can be more of a secret than something else.)

In the context you have provided I suppose that one can give only an opinion on how a Nintendo game, metaphorically speaking, is, so:

You don't get another chance. Life is not a Nintendo game.

and

You don't get another chance. Life is no Nintendo game.

are both correct.

_{Reference: English Grammar Today (Cambridge)}

Why "no" rather than "not" in "Life is no Nintendo game"?

4 Answers4