N negates NOTHING

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What was that? Nothing. *Bangs head*
What did you do? Nothing. *Runs for cover*
What did you just say? Nothing. *Ducks the oncoming argument*
What’s going on? Nothing *Avoiding further interrogation*
What are you thinking? Nothing. *Laughs out loud*
So? Nothing. *Couldn’t care a hang*

And so we have the most (mis)used word in the English language. It denotes hurt,ย angst, fear, annoyance, indifference, escapism and so much more, all encompassed in one little word. NOTHING. ‘Everything’ can be categorized into ‘Nothing’ effectively. And it all stems from two simple words ‘No’ and ‘Thing’. It is our innate nature to refuse and shake our head, sideways, along with it. It somehow validates the state of nothingness. ย Because NO is really the first word we learn as kids. Don’tย believeย me? Here’s a recap!ย 
Nooooooooooooooooooooooo, don’t touch that!
No, you can’t have it.
No,ย becauseย I said so!
Nope, you can’t eat that.
No. No. No. A thousand times No.
Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooo not that way, you nincompoop!


And so No becomes an important part of our vocabulary. When you add Thing to it, it simply carries more weight. You don’t need aย grammaticallyย correct sentence to sound emphatic or magnanimous. Nothing works its magic, every time, every where. “No, Nothing” has gone down in history as the famous last words of most wives, before an icy stare and stark silence. Two negative words, doubleย positiveย impact. To be used in extreme circumstances only.ย 

Somehow, we find solace in the solitary word, though. We assume that the message has been passed on clearly to the other party of theย conversation. And even if it is misunderstood, too bad, we meant ‘nothing’.ย 

Now here is the catch. Nothing almost, always, means Something. Everything can’t be Nothing, but Nothing can be used to denote Everything. Nothingย can imply Anything if you don’t know Everything. But if you are aware ofย Something,ย thenย Nothing cannot just be Anything.ย 

So what exactly am I getting at? Nothing.


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42 responses to “N negates NOTHING”

  1. Suzy avatar
    Suzy

    Yep Nothing was very effective during those University years and now I hear it often. The “no no” baby is so cute.

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Oh that baby was quite the inspiration for this post ๐Ÿ™‚

  2. Ritu avatar

    This brings back memories of the younger son’s college days … the talkative school boy who had to give me a minute to minute recap of his day at school suddenly clammed up. Me : How was your day He: Okay, Me: What happened, He : Nothing, Me : Do you have assignment, He : Nothing, Me : (Digging) Did you have fun, Him : It was okay, nothing happened, okay!

    Me : Backing off and giving up!

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      I totally understand that Ritu. Been on either ends now!

  3. Laxmi Chundi Addanki avatar

    No, not nothing – you got to something more than nothing, that lies beneath the ‘nothing’ that was expressed like nothing (actually, nobody) could ever think of! ๐Ÿ™‚
    Now I need to give you a hug! ๐Ÿ™‚
    xxx
    L

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Awwww Laxmi, hugging you back. But I swear I had nothing in mind when I penned this ๐Ÿ™‚

  4. Ruchira avatar

    I have nothing to say here today ๐Ÿ˜›

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Now that is something, ain’t it?

  5. Rickie avatar

    What a ‘philosophical’ post! Aapne to Nothing kehte kehte hi everything keh diya! ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Hello, something, something……some hunny bunny????

  6. JANU avatar

    Too good. Alas! Nothing more to add ๐Ÿ˜›

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Something, anything………………nothing?

  7. Shilpa Garg avatar

    Oh yes, this nothing speaks a lot! To get something out of this nothing, a lot of prodding needs to be done though! Good one for N ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Thanks Shilpa. And such hard work it is.

  8. goingbeyondthepages avatar

    ha ha ๐Ÿ˜€ Well I am adding this word to my son’s vocabulary now ๐Ÿ™‚

    -Jaspreet

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Good luck. You are very brave!

  9. Afshan avatar

    hahaha !
    This is such an awesome post and the video mY GOD >….such a rolu polu
    wanna hug him !
    Nothing always means something to me !

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      You are bang on………Nothing always does. ๐Ÿ™‚

  10. Cynthia Rodrigues Manchekar avatar

    Somehow women are more adept at squeezing every drop of significance out of nothing. Great post on the nuances of the most overused word, Nothing.

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Cynthia, women are naturally deemed to be CIA agents, lol.

  11. Corinne Rodrigues avatar
    Corinne Rodrigues

    That’s a whole lot of something about nothing and as usual everything is good! ๐Ÿ˜‰

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Anything you say haan, Rorinne Codrigues. And by God you are right though ๐Ÿ˜›

  12. hitch writer avatar

    nothing for me to comment!!?? lol that is not going to happen ๐Ÿ˜€

    but yes… I do say nothing a lot… I hate telling the whole story… typing any day over talking !

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      I can talk. Don’t expect the chronicles of Narnia though. I ain’t listing everything about my day here.

  13. Rainbow Hues avatar

    Nice post… I am very much dependent on ‘nothing’. I hate to explain myself to certain people and my defense usually is ‘nothing’

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Don’t we all? Nothing is a life saver.

  14. Shail Mohan avatar

    Nice post. Reminded me of a verse I wrote, Everything and Nothing:
    http://shailsnest.com/2009/09/04/everything-and-nothing/
    Take a look when you are free ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      I just did. It was wonderful and so apt. Thanks for sharing.

  15. Cuckoo avatar

    Okay Vinita, what I wanted to tell you about the post…okay, nothing.

    ๐Ÿ™‚
    Meera

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      I bet there was something in that ๐Ÿ˜€

  16. Roshni AaMom avatar

    You last paragraph reminds me of the joke about three boys named Everybody, Somebody and Nobody!
    Big A’s first word was ‘NO!!”, which made me realize how often he must have heard that word from me!! ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      And now you know! Improve vocab right away Roshni or you will be posting you tube videos too. ๐Ÿ˜›

      And I must look up that joke, faintly remember something about a job that somebody had to do…..right?

  17. Nandana avatar

    You made all this out of nothing ? Now that’s something! ๐Ÿ˜€

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Making love out of nothing at all….I guess ๐Ÿ˜€

  18. sharmila k avatar

    Nothing of yours makes sense !;)

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Yup, I agree. ๐Ÿ˜€

  19. sridevi datta avatar

    I have a little everything of nothing . So does that make me something , anything or nothinggggg at all ?

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Depends on which thing you give importance Sri ๐Ÿ™‚

  20. G Angela avatar

    I just loved the baby ! and I like what you wrote on NOTHING !!Thanks for sharing !

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      That baby is a delight….but so true about what they learn!

  21. Pallavi Purani avatar

    The last paragraph makes so much sense. It must be taught to kids like a rhyme. ๐Ÿ™‚

    1. Blogwati Gee avatar

      Lol, I just went with the flow Pallavi……I think Adults need to learn that first, no?

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