I know not

[Eugene2114]

Hi,
Another one on how not to follow the rules, possibly. (What if footballers turned members of government: who would you fancy and where was the subject.)
“Bertie Tully: Being a Norwich fan I know not to appoint Seb Bassong as defence secretary..”

--“ I know [no reason why] not to appoint Seb Bassong...” was how I was reading it. Perhaps that style with verbs as main messengers in a sentence is a characteristic of Norfolk people?

[Beeesneees]

You are not reading it correctly.
This would be closer:
I know [that it would] not [be good] to appoint...
It's akin to:
I know that I/we/they should not appoint...

Without any knowledge of football, or of who these people are, I would assume from this that Tully does not feel Bassong would be good in defence, or that Bassong has recently played poorly in defence.

Not Norfolk people, that sort of phrasing is a common characteristic in informal speech and writing.
_________________
"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett

[Eugene2114]

Every day's a school day.

Not following his career, I didn't know anything about the guy who "is either strong and competent or indecisive and dithering on the ball and it's mostly the latter."

I know not to jump to conclusions before you get informed on things, right?

[Beeesneees]

I'm not sure what you are getting at now.

I'm not jumping to conclusions here, I'm making an educated assessment, but pointing out that my assumption might be slightly wide of the mark due to my lack of knowledge of the player. From what you say, it appears that I was right.
_________________
"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett

[Eugene2114]

Sorry but it was you who were misinterpreting my message.

Of course you were right. My "Every day's..." and the following "I know not to jump..." remarks were something I was murmuring under my breath. And addressed to myself of course. If by any chance, you've read it otherwise, sorry. And sorry again.

The original was among the dozens of posts (flippantly) proposing 'candidates' who people thought would fit the bill. The one I cited proved to be at odds with how the others were dealing with it, which confused me and made jump to...

Am I forgiven?.. ;-)

[Beeesneees]

There is nothing to forgive, it seems. ;-)
I started my post by saying that I wasn't sure what you were getting at so that you would know I realised I could easily be misinterpreting what you said. So I apologise to you that I did misinterpret it.
_________________
"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett

[Canadian45]

[Beeesneees]

You really need to engage your brain before you leap in.
You might see two instances of a line ending with a colon, but you will not find any instances of a sentence ending with a colon.
_________________
"Inside every old person is a young person wondering what happened."
Terry Pratchett