English language peculiarities

Question

This morning my ex-husband was here, and he said:

"You haven't seen my scarf, have you?"

Does that sound weird to other people, whatever your mother tongue? It's certainly a very common way of asking certain questions among the people I know, however because I noticed it and I think it sounds horribly pessimistic I always prefer to ask a question in a positive way:

"Have you seen my scarf?"

However, I do sometimes forget my intentions and revert to the standard old negatives..

"I don't suppose you've cleaned the car yet, have you?"

My mum's mum was even 'worse', she frequently tacked a 'no' onto the end of a question, like this.... ready to be disappointed. :(

"I don't suppose you've had any luck finding a job yet, dear, have you, no."

I aim to add others as they occur to me. Hopefully our English learners will get something out of them, and it would be lovely to hear opinions and/or examples from anyone who has any.

A negative question hoping for a positive answer I think. - ian-hill, Oct 24, 2010

Indeed, asking in the negative is far more polite than asking in the positive, in my opinion. - jeezzle, Oct 25, 2010

More polite, now that's interesting Jeezzle! I would never have thought of it that way, but I see where you're coming from. :) - galsally, Oct 25, 2010

jaja, jeezzle. That's a nice way to look at it. ~beautifleeblest~ - DaddysBabyGirl, Oct 25, 2010