69073
I recently came across the phrase `じゃないんじゃない` in this sentence:

> Clerk: 「でも うちで売{う}ってるアイスじゃないんじゃないかしら。」

For context, some kids are claiming they have a winning popsicle stick but the
clerk can't seem to recognize it.

Here, I believe the clerk is saying `But I don't think we sell this kind of
ice cream here`.

However, the `じゃないんじゃない` is throwing me off because it looks like it's
negating the sentence while also asking for confirmation, as if the clerk
doesn't believe her own words or something.

How should `じゃないんじゃない` be translated here?
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2019-06-25T05:17:57.257
69070
2019-11-26T12:33:54.577
2019-11-26T12:33:54.577
31095
question
grammar meaning tag-question
Meaning of じゃないんじゃない?
The かしら makes this a bit confusing, as I don't think that a female shop
attendant would use the word in recent years.

But, this is a good example when the way you say it (especially intonation)
gets crucial. The double negations are very common.

Also, even the single <​X>じゃないか？ could mean both (although I guess more often
it is used in a meaning "I thought <​X> was the case but are you really
telling me that <​opposite of X> is the case???". No research behind, though,
and the opposite meaning is also common.)

Just imagining the context, I would guess the shop clerk is in a polite way
saying "C'mon, you say you didn't buy it here, you really think I believe
you???"

p.s. Sometimes you even see triple negations (even if not counting eg もったえない
as a negation) Among natives, these may be perceived as a incapability to
express ones message clearly, in English, like in "No, I don't think that
people think that you are a person who does not tell your child not to do
things when he/she is doing something he/she should not be doing."
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2019-06-25T06:15:38.013
69071
2019-06-28T17:32:37.437
2019-06-28T17:32:37.437
9831
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answer
> でも うちで売ってるアイスじゃないん **じゃないかしら**

「～じゃないかしら。」「～じゃないかな。」 can mean "I suspect..." "I think..." "Isn't it...?"

うちで売ってるアイス means "ice cream that's sold in our shop". (うちで売ってる is a relative
clause that modifies アイス.)

So the sentence basically means...

> "But, it is not the ice cream that we sell, is it?"  
>  "But, I think it is not the ice cream that we sell."
CC BY-SA 4.0
2019-06-25T06:59:57.623
69073
2019-06-25T06:59:57.623
9831
69070
answer