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I have looked up the '～ないことはない' grammar and it says it means either 'can' or
'is not impossible to' [Link to grammar site](https://jlptsensei.com/learn-
japanese-
grammar/%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84%E3%81%93%E3%81%A8%E3%81%AF%E3%81%AA%E3%81%84-nai-
koto-wa-nai-meaning/). I see that it's a double negative.

However, I have this sentence that I've had trouble fitting it to.

まあ アイデア出した俺にも責任はないことはないか

I understand the parts. He came up with the idea, and he feels ... that he
'can' be responsible? In English, it seems like it might be 'should' be
responsible, or at least 'it's not the case that I shouldn't be responsible'.
But then 'nai koto ha nai' starts to become 'isn't the case that', and that
starts to feel more like 'wake ja nai'. I suppose the first step would be to
have a good translation of this line, which I don't have.

So, in short, I'm having trouble understanding this question. And if it does
translate to 'isn't the case that', then I would appreciate someone explaining
the main differences between 'nai koto ha nai' and 'wake ja nai'.

Thanks!
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2020-08-04T13:12:41.117
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grammar
What does ～ないことはない mean?
'～ないことはない' is a kind of softener which indicates that the speaker believes
something has a lower probability of possibility or a smaller degree than in
other phrases like たぶん or かもしれない, for example.

With ～ないことはない, the first ない is softened by the second ない. So 責任はないこと ('I have
no responsibility') is softened with the additional ない (literally 'it's not
that I have no responsibility'). This produces a phrase where the speaker is
still expressing low probability but is also admitting that it isn't out of
the question or might be partly true at least. More context on what the
speaker is talking about in your examples would be helpful, but anyway I would
translate it as something like this (depending on the context):

> まあアイデア出した俺にも責任はないことはないか.
>

>> I guess I'm the one who suggested the idea, so I suppose it could partly be
my fault too.

He's allowing for the possibility that he is responsible, but is also
distancing himself from it somewhat by using ～ないことはない to reduce the degree of
responsibility that can be assigned to him.
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2020-08-04T16:09:36.760
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ないことはない is definitely putting some distance between the cause/effect, or the
possibility of something happening. It's similar to "(You) can't say it will
never happen, but..." or "It's not impossible that..."

I would say that the use of this phrase in this case can be shown in the
difference between these two English sentences.

Because I mentioned the idea, it's my responsibility. vs. Because I mentioned
the idea, I can't say I bear no responsibility.
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answer