What is the logic behind this?

> adding -ING to words that are NOT verbs. > > brushing That's a verb. You can use brushing.

>"Her hair isn't hairing" This is not standard English, this is internet speak In internet speak, you can add -ING to any word (even ones that are not verbs) and make new words. In this example, "Hairing" doesn't really mean anything other than 'being and possessing the qualities of hair'. You could also say, if your computer mouse isn't working, "The mouse ain't mousing", which means that the mouse is not displaying the characteristics expected of a computer mouse. Again, this is non-standard English, but it is very fun to use. Keep in mind that this does not always have the intended effect. For example, you cannot say "My post ain't posting" or "My bike ain't biking"

"Not the" is related to saying "I cannot believe the". So "Not the dog eating faster than" would be "I cannot believe the dog is eating faster than". "Not the" is less formal and overly structured, works better with casual language use. ING on things that aren't verbs - first, as another said, brushing is a verb. For the others, it is sometimes called "verbing". As far as the logic goes... Well, English isn't a logic based language. If the use of a word conveys the intended meaning, then that is good enough, especially with casual language and slang. Hair isn't hairing = the hair isn't behaving like hair. This functionally works well enough for casual language.

The "not the" thing you're mentioning isn't someone denying it's happening but treating the thing that is happening as if it is a known or common thing. So despite it being, like, novel, you treat it with a surrealist notion that it's actually so common place that you can get "tired" of it or that it is an established trope already.

You may find this interesting: [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion\_(word\_formation)#Verbing](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Conversion_(word_formation)#Verbing) Many English verbs were originally only nouns.

The humor is making a noun into a verb. It happens quite often in English (I’m sure you’ve heard about how hard “adulting” is”). I work with lawyers and we sometimes facetiously describe the litany of tasks they have (that I cannot help them with) as “lawyering”. Sometimes we even do it with adjectives - my family and I describe hanging out without needing to engage with one another as “antisocialing”.

You’re right that “Not the (insert situation)” is just a way to highlight it comedically. I found this on Urban Dictionary: “Not the,” followed by a noun phrase, is an abbreviation of “Oh no! Not the,” an expression of dismay. “The” can be substituted with other articles or determiners as fits the subject. In familiar cartoons and movies it was employed as part of an over-the-top dismayed reaction to a threat, as in the Looney Tunes Cat and Bulldog cartoons: “Oh no! Not Happy Birthday! Not that! Please! Anything but Happy Birthday!” In internet discourse it is mostly used in an ironic mode, expressing mock dismay at impotent threats, events or statements that are cringe, jokes that are too tryhard and so on.

The two patterns described in the post are examples of internet slang and playful language use in English, particularly in informal online spaces like YouTube and TikTok comments: 1. "Not [something happening]..." This phrase is a form of "mock surprise" or playful emphasis. It comes from African American Vernacular English (AAVE) and has been widely adopted in internet culture. How it works: Instead of just stating what is happening, people phrase it as if they are in disbelief or pointing it out humorously. Why it’s funny: The phrase sounds like it is "denying" something, but in reality, it’s drawing more attention to it. Example: Instead of saying, "Wow, the dog is eating really fast!", someone might say, "Not the dog eating faster than Olympic runners!" The word "Not" makes it sound like they are rejecting the situation, but it’s actually a way to make it more dramatic and funny. 2. Adding "-ing" to Non-Verbs - In linguistics we call this "verbing." This is a creative way to describe a situation where something is not working properly. How it works: People take a noun or adjective and turn it into a verb by adding -ing, even if it’s not usually a verb. Why it’s funny: It humorously treats objects or situations as if they have agency or actions. Example: Instead of saying, "Her hair isn't looking good," someone might say, "Her hair isn't hairing." Instead of "The brush isn’t working," someone might say, "The brush wasn’t brushing!" The joke comes from treating "hair" and "brush" as if they should automatically perform their expected functions. These phrases are part of internet humor and playful language use. People do this to: 1. Make their comments stand out—plain statements can be boring, but these phrasing styles add humor. 2. Express emotions in a funny way—instead of just saying something failed, they exaggerate it for comedic effect.

Normally, it has always been used exclusively negatively, to express frustration or dismay at something bad occurring, usually when it's out of one's control. For example, say a cat of yours knocks a vase off a desk, you can say 'not the vase!'. In terms of the newer internet usage, it's used to express that something is humorous when it's unbelievable, unexpected, or undesirable. Negative statements are often used rhetorically for humorous effect, like saying 'I can't!' to express the inability to contain one's laughter. The usage might have broadened so much now to the point where this isn't the case anymore, but in general and especially on the Internet, people like to find humor in things that aren't funny or shouldn't be funny. It's very common to express how funny something is by talking about how 'not funny' it's supposed to be. Something related to this is the 💀 emoji, which might come from the expression 'I'm dead' used to express a strong humorous reaction. The emoji, however, is often used to express that the person finds something funny that we may otherwise think is hurtful or wrong to laugh at.

This is just modern slang. “Not the dog eating faster than Olympic runners!” is for emphasis, like saying, “Wow! I can’t believe how fast the dog is eating!” “The blank isn’t blanking.”, just means the thing is not acting right at the moment.

It’s just the way people talk on the internet, honestly you’ll hear it in modern conversations too depending on the age group I guess. But the “Not” part in those sentences is kinda just another of saying “No way”. For example; “No way the dog is eating faster than an Olympic runner.” That’s the best way I can explain it.

Languages are ever evolving and changing. That's what's happening to the english that's spoken and written online.

Many good responses, I'll just add that the internet in general and YouTube comments especially is a real mixed bag for English learning. Most native English speaking commenters only consider how they'll be understood by other native English speakers, and many only consider how they'll be understood by the internet immersed crowd. Internet English may as well be a seperate dialect in my amateur opinion. It has decades of culture built largely around brevity at the expense of clarity, and sounding funny and weird to the ear of the native English, non internet listener. This is all good fun, of course. The dicey part for -ESL- any * folks online is figuring out what's 'standard/ professional English' and what's 'meme speak,' as I think of it. * I, a native speaker, put my foot in my mouth at a job when I used internet speak in conversation with my supervisor about our collective boss. I was trying to sound natural and quick and witty and forgot that internet wit can be... weird in other contexts. So speak how you want, I maintain that the language belongs to you as much as anyone, but that said, it can be useful to know how the professional dialect differs from the online dialect so you can speak their language if you want to.

Native speaker here and I actually laughed out loud trying to think of how to explain this or why it’s even funny. Language can be so absurd.

The “not the…(fill in the blank)” is an expression originating from AAVE that people on the internet latched onto. As far as I can tell, On the internet it’s used more widely to comment on a greater variety of situations than it was outside of the internet a few years ago. It’s often used to express disbelief/incredulity or the irony of a situation but sometimes simply used to comment on the degree/severity of some occurrence. I frequently see people use this expression in situations I don’t think it’s called for, just because it’s something fun to say. As if they’re just signaling to other people how “in the know” they are (this is what cool people say and I’m cool so I will say it even if it doesn’t exactly make sense).

Depending on the context of the video, if they say the dog is eating a family size meal, maybe the intent is to highlight that overfeeding a dog could be unethical.

It's an incredibly annoying trendy bullshit way of speaking used by teenagers or people in their 30s/40s in a desperate attempt to 'fit in' and seem funny/clever. Best to just move on from anyone that talks like that.

As they say, in English any noun can be verbed.

The "not the..." thing is a new fad that developed online. They're basically just pointing out something they find strange and/or funny, but the grammar isn't proper. Internet talk.

you can verb any word, it's called verbing

It’s for humor. The dog eating the whole menu just means he is eating a lot. But the person is using exaggeration for a visual effect and humor. The ING has been explained pretty well in another post.

"not the" thing is like seeing something shocking so much that you can't comprehend it. like life did not prepare you to see something as unexpected. it's a cringey zoomer palette used for no real reason.

OP, this is largely internet culture. Saying “Not…” isn’t used in every day conversations. Except, “not this again.” (Used when dreading something.)

When they say something and it follows the structure of the noun isn't (noun)ing it basically just means it's not acting how it's supposed to. It's usually in an undesirable way. When people say not the ___ it's not denying it's happening but more so expressing disbelief. Like it shouldn't/couldn't be happening normally.

Re: neoverbs One of the beautiful things about English is that we have consumed so many languages, and vocabulary from dozens to hundreds more, that we can choose one of many \*almost\* identical words for anything we want to say. It means that we get to add tiny subtleties, minuscule differences in meanings, simply by choosing one word over another. It also makes our capacity for puns and wordplay second to NONE. What these people are doing is inventing new words in a humorous and plainly "wrong" way, to state that whatever the noun, it is failing in its essence. Math has a purpose, and when things "don't add up" math is failing to BE math. You're seeing it a lot right now because it's memetic. Once the fad dies down, you probably won't hear many people do it again but it's currently in fashion. Re: denial People are speaking as if they're in a shocked state of disbelief. Obviously they aren't, they're just exaggerating, but imagine you're a surgical nurse and the surgeon asks you for the shotgun. You might respond in horror, "not the shotgun!" because it's a ludicrous thing to ask for during surgery.

[This is the best explanation I could find for the "not ___" sentences.](https://colinmorris.github.io/blog/ironic-not) It's normally an affronted/sad exclamation. For example, if you accidentally put your expensive purse through the washing machine, you might say, "Not my Coach purse!" when you see it's been destroyed. What you see now is an extension of this, but with hyperspecific situations for comedic value. As for the other thing: Turning nouns into verbs is a very common thing in English, but these examples are funny because these nouns are *not* normally acceptable as verbs (your example "brush" is a verb, but I know it was just an example). The hair example is a good one: "hairing" is an invented verb that describes something acting as hair does. These sentences are funny because obviously, a noun should be able to do what its associated verb does. Hair should be able to hair accordingly. These sentences are used especially when there's not already a clearly defined verb for whatever noun it is (or at least, not a simple, straightforward phrase). I think the main sentence these tend to be derived from is "the math isn't mathing", which might be a reference to something from years ago. I'm not sure.