"Never" vs. "not"
I was watching "City of Death" yesterday, and in the first episode, when Romana comments that a particular device is "very sophisticated" for Earth, the Doctor replies, "That? That's never the product of Earth civilization." Tegan uses a similar construction in "The King's Demons"; I think she actually says, "You're never going to fight [the guy standing there with a sword]," but I forget what the exact quote is. And I could swear I've heard Rose use "never" the same way--it was maybe something like, "You're never telling the truth"--but possibly that was in a fic, not on the show.
In all of these situations, my American tongue would use "not" instead of "never," because the negative is referring to one object or to an action occuring once in the future, whereas "never" is generally reserved for continuous actions in the future ("I'm never coming here again," "You never tell the truth," etc.). I'm sure I've heard characters on DW use "not" in that sense as well. Is there an explainable rhyme or reason for using either word? Is "never" for added emphasis? Is it dependent upon a character's dialect?
In all of these situations, my American tongue would use "not" instead of "never," because the negative is referring to one object or to an action occuring once in the future, whereas "never" is generally reserved for continuous actions in the future ("I'm never coming here again," "You never tell the truth," etc.). I'm sure I've heard characters on DW use "not" in that sense as well. Is there an explainable rhyme or reason for using either word? Is "never" for added emphasis? Is it dependent upon a character's dialect?