Mathematics of speaking like a French person: negative x negative = positive

Full of food and ready to argue with each other.

Parisians love complaining. I think it is in their culture to be quite negative about everything. So how do they say something positive? Easy: you negate a negative. Not to say that they never describe something as "super-bon" (super-good), because they do. But, when they say a double negative, that is just as good of a compliment. For example, when a French person says that a restaurant was "pas mal," although it literally translates to "not bad," they really mean that it's a good restaurant (better than not bad, in English terms). Or if a guy says "Elle n'est pas moche," literally, "she is not ugly," what he means is that she is quite pretty.

But don't be fooled! Such as with all rules in the French language, there are exceptions. Saying something is "pas terrible," literally, "not terrible," actually means that it is VERY terrible. And sometimes, if you say something was "terrible," for example "Le concert était terrible!" literally "that concert was terrible," it actually means that concert was great!

The French language is terrible!