I don't know nothin'

I don't know nothin' pronunciation

/ah DOAN-t no NAW-thin/

Meaning

A double negative that stacks don't and nothin' for emphasis, not for math. In redneck and Southern talk it means total blank: no idea, no information, nothing to add. It can also mean they are staying out of it on purpose. Teachers hate it. Porch talk loves it.

How folks use it

• “I don't know nothin' about whose truck that was.”
• “Ask somebody else. I don't know nothin'.”

Origin and etymology

Negative concord is old English. Chaucer stacked negatives for emphasis. Schoolbook rules in the 1700s tried to scrub it out. Southern and Appalachian speech kept it anyway. I don't know nothin' is one of the clearest everyday examples.

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