What is the nuance of the phrase “have never not liked”?

I was drawn to the phrase, “Anne Hathaway, who, for the record, I have never not liked, is extremely appealing” in the following paragraph in the review of movie, “The Intern,” of which source I forgot to take notes.

"The adages of “The Intern” are delivered in a comedy package that, for the most part, is sane, sweet, and smart, and a lot of the time, actually funny. A budding romance between Ben and the company’s in-house masseuse is fodder for two groan-inducing visual gags. But a silly set piece in which Ben enlists some of the younger goofballs of About The Fit on a housebreaking mission, replete with latter-day “Ocean’s Eleven” references, is actually a tolerable bit of rompage. And everyone in the cast, including Hathaway, who, for the record, I have never not liked, is extremely appealing."

I don’t think I’ve ever heard the expression, “I have never not liked somebody.” Does this mean “I like her” as a double negative? If so, what is the difference of nuance between them? Is this a very common turn of phrase?

By the way, isn’t rompage a typo of rampage?

Solution 1:

The nuance is that like and not like is a spectrum not a binary state.

Do you like neutrality? Meh.

"Never not liked" literally means that there there was never a point at which the subject was not liked. It allows, but does not require, that the subject was liked.

If context somehow requires that the state be binary (you do or you don't, pick a side) then this expression is needlessly complicated. Sometimes that's done for emphasis. More often people assume it's binary when it isn't so.

I never met a man I didn't like.

Will Rogers

Will wasn't saying he liked people before he met them.

Solution 2:

You can like the performance of an actor in one movie, dislike their performance in another, and have no opinion on a third. This reviewer is saying that they have never disliked - or "never not liked" - Anne Hathaway's performance in a movie.

"Rompage" here is a made-up word meaning 'instance of romping'. It has the same relation to the word 'romp' as 'breakage' has to 'break'.

Solution 3:

In the context of the review you are citing (from RogerEbert.com), "never not liked" is just a cute way of saying "always liked." This is the sort of turn of phrase that film critics sometimes toss into movie reviews to give their pronouncements a bit of fizz (they hope). Instances of the same double-negative locution may be found in Ayul Zamir, Intern Beth (2006):

I love you—I have always loved you—I have never not loved you ☺ Yes, even when I was a disobedient child, cheating behind your back, following my heart and telling you lies: I thought of you and smiled!

and in Max Lucado, He Did This Just for You (2005):

And we have never not sinned. God has lived a sinless eternity; I'd be thrilled with a sinless hour! But I've never had one. Have you? Have you ever gone sixty minutes with only one sin? Me neither.

and in numerous other instance that you can find by running Google Books searches for "have never not," "has never not," and the like.

"Rompage" is a made-up word built on the familiar word romp, and as applied to films and film scripts means a lighthearted, enjoyable diversion (there is an intentional hint of the word rampage in the neologism rompage, but the sense of the word here is clearly very different from "going wild and threatening innocent people").

Solution 4:

Though some may say that "I have never not liked you" is equivalent to "I have always liked you", I would argue that they give a slight difference in meaning.

"Never" usually implies a 0% probability while "Always" need not necessarily imply a 100% probability (usually just 90% of the time, in most use cases).

So saying that "I have never not liked you" conveys the meaning that of 100% of the time, I have had non-negative feelings towards you.

On the other hand, saying that "I have always liked you" seems to convey the meaning that of 90% of the time, I have had positive feelings towards you.

Not only is there a difference in "non-negative feelings" vs "positive feelings", but the latter also leaves somewhat slight ambiguity (say 10% of the time)

Just my personal thoughts :)

Solution 5:

I think there's no point in attempting to parse the difference between: never not liked and never not liked. It's ambiguous, but I don't think that is the point of the phrase in any case. Essentially "never not liked" and "always liked" means the same thing, the difference is one of emphasis. (Assuming that the emphasis is intentional of course, it could just be overly flowery speech).

always liked - emphasises the duration in my opinion (always) ("always loved" might emphasise the "always" and the "love" in equal measure, but that's only because love is a much stronger word than like).

never not liked - emphasises the not and by extension emphasises the feeling (the complete absence of not liking)

The reason I believe that to be the case is that "never not liked" is slightly clumsy and unnecessary, and so draws your attention to the "not" (if the author didn't wish to draw your attention to the "not" they would probably just have said "never disliked").

It might clarify to consider another example. Take the following conversation:

Person A to Person B - oh, so now you like that song?

Person B, wishing to negate the statement because they like the song but have always done so, might to choose to answer in two different ways:

B to A - I've always liked it (emphasising the duration)

or

B to A - I've never not liked it (emphasising the feeling)