The paper aims to explore the notion of ‘zero’ in linguistics and argues that such a mathematical metaphor is misleading and hazardous. Firstly, it posits the presence of certain grammatical elements even in the absence of manifest evidence. Secondly, on some occurrences, traditional ‘zeros’ of grammatical forms should rather be considered ‘nothings’. Therefore, a reappraisal of the notion of ‘zero’ in linguistics is advocated.