Anyone who starts a sentence with ‘I’m not being…’ always being about to be
As in “I’m not being …..snobbish , racist, nosey, prudish , a party-pooper”. Yes, pure Quotlish ,this , and any sentence thus started must – in accordance with the rules of Quotlish Grammar and Syntax – be followed by the word ‘BUT’. This form of words – ‘I’m not being ….‘ followed by ‘BUT’ is called a Quotradiction .It is a Qutradiction to follow the phrase ‘I’m not being snobbish but ..” with wipe-out condemnation of anyone with a tattoo and their own snooker cue who takes holidays in Ibiza . So a Quotradition is any word or group of words which you can reliably take to mean the exact opposite of what they actually say. Thus the phrase ‘…and I’m not exaggerating ‘ or ‘ It’s not for me to judge ‘ ‘ will always precede a hugely inflated statement or something resembling a condemnation carrying a capital sentence . You will wonder what anything described as ‘This is not a criticism’ could possibility have been as you walk away from it with all credibility stripped away . Take the phrase “ I hate to say ‘I told you so’ ” . It gets trotted out time and time again and we are expected to believe it although everybody knows that there are few greater pleasures in life . Be honest, you love it. Pretty well any statement preceding a ‘BUT’ is a Quotradiction as it probably indicates that what follows will prove to be the exact opposite – such as ‘ I’m not trying to put ideas into your head ( or ‘put words into your mouth’ or to ‘influence you in any way ‘) , or “ I know it’s none of my business “. You don’t necessarily have to have a denial or a negative in the opening clause as it can be a positive avowal as in ‘ Far be it from me…” or “I am the last person to…..” but the effect is the same in that you know that its opposite coming . Not that you always have to have a BUT , as we shall see with other predictable Quotraditions, but you do need two contradictory statements side by side one of which – usually the first – is a whopper.
(Ptolomy Ashcroft , Barrow-in-Furness) - QQQQQ