Post by Chrysi CatPost by Stefan Ram"Definite" here means "indisputable; certain" (it also could
mean "obvious"), and the second phrase is not incorrect.
Although now that I look at the combination of the sentence and who said
it, the double negative MAY have been intended as an emphatic and not as
a negation of the single negative, since English is seemingly the only
language that supports negation of a negative.
No, German works pretty much the same: double negative = positive in
formal register, but emphatic negative in many dialects and some
colloquial speech.
Even down to details: I'd read "not incorrect" as a less solid
endorsement than "correct" in English, and likewise the parallel
constructions in German. And this construction can indicate either
hesitation or (in different examples than this) just understatement.
--
The seeds of new thought, sown in a ground that isn't prepared
to receive them, don't bear fruit.
-- Hedwig Dohm (1874), my translation