In a discussion of the historic nature of Barack Obama’s election, Christopher Hitchens writes, “there were not a few elected black American representatives 40 years ago.”
This claim surprised me, so I looked it up. In 1968, there were 5 African Americans in the House of Representatives and 1 in the Senate. This sounds like only “a few” to me! Was Hitchens just confused here, or am I missing something?
P.S. Somebody pointed out that there were black state and local officeholders as well. I guess it all turns on what is meant by “not a few.” Blacks were certainly a very low percentage of all U.S. elected officials back then.
“Not a few”. Since a few, “to most people”, means several. “Not a few” well, that would mean less than several. What it really means, “is not fucking many”.
“Not a few” is meaningless. “Not a few” says nothing about the actual value, just like “not 3” could mean an infinite number of values except for 3.