It's not that

[keitra]

Would you explain grammatically the following sentence?
It's not that I'm not happy to meet you?

[Vesper99]

I am rejecting the idea that I am not happy to meet you (put in a fairly barbaric form)

[dr john]

To put it more simply, the fact is that I am happy to meet you.

[nightmare]

dr john
strictly speaking, the sentence is stating that I am NOT not happy to meet you.
I may be happy to meet you, OR totally indifferent

[fairkatrina]

Expect a sentence like that to be followed by a 'but...'

[Teddio]

It's a double negative. Two negatives make a positive so the statement reads, "I'm happy to meet you".

[RATTER15]

I am happy to meet you: but now is a bad time for me as I am about to go out!!

[Peter Pedant]

This is an example of a double negative

This is bad English - you can see why - we are all arguing about what it means

Someone who speaks like this - you may never know what she is saying - but it probably is not important

[rojash]

This is not an example of a double negative. Whilst ther are cleary two negatives in the sentence, they refer to different things; the implication is "(The problem is) not that I'm not happy to meet you" - i.e. the first "not" refers to the problem, and the second to the state of happiness (or otherwise!).

An example of a double negative is "I have not got nothing" where both negatives refer to the same thing (the absence or otherwise of possessions). In the case of the double negative, the literal meaning is usually the opposite of that intended by the speaker.

Incidentally, the example i've used: "I've not got nothing" is grammatically correct in Greek and means (in English) "I have nothing" - which is kind of weird coming as it does from one of the birthplaces of logic.

[curlyperm]

well how about............." I'm not going to NOT go on about it"

[THECORBYLOON]

If "not happy" is replaced by "unhappy," it can be said as, " It's not that I'm unhappy to meet you" which, in turn, can be taken to mean, "It's not as if I'm unhappy to meet you." It may be the speaker was not exactly enthusiatic at meeting the other person, so wasn't fussed either way.