 The availability of strengthened contrary readings for apparent contradictory negation has long been recognized, dating back to classical rhetoricians of the 4th century on the figure of litotes, in which an affirmative is indirectly asserted by negating its contrary (Hoffmann 1987). Litotic interpretations tend to be asymmetrical: an attribution of “not happy” or “not optimistic” will tend to convey a contrary (in this case “rather unhappy” or “fairly pessimistic”), while no analogous virtual contrariety is normally signaled by “not sad” or “not pessimistic”, which are usually understood as pure contradictories. This asymmetry is ultimately a social fact arising from the desire to respect negative face (Ducrot 1973, Brown and Levinson 1987, Horn 1989).