Could care less/couldn't care less

[Niamh.]

I just noticed one of our American members saying I could care less, this has always puzzled me, doesn't that mean that you do care then? I never got that, anyway Poll which is more correct in your opinion

[Josy]

couldn't care less

[Niamh.]

Yes alright Josy no need to be rude :bored:

[MTVN]

I've never really understood people saying 'could care less' either, unless it's supposed to be a sarcastic thing :huh:

[AnnieK]

Couldn't care less

[Josy]

Yes alright Josy no need to be rude :bored:

You wot? :joker:

[Niamh.]

You wot? :joker:

It was a joke :hehe:

[Natalie.]

I couldn't care less, I've never got the could care less thing either

[Kizzy]

'I couldn't care less' is a full sentence, 'I could care less' isn't
it is incomplete.
'I could care less, but I don't'
' I could care less, and I do'
That makes sense to me.

[Livia]

I've used both... but for the first one I say "I could care less... but not much less". Otherwise it doesn't make sense.

[MTVN]

The form I could care less has provoked a vast amount of comment and criticism in the past thirty years or so. Few people have had a kind word for it, and many have been vehemently opposed to it (William and Mary Morris, for example, in the Harper Dictionary of Contemporary Usage, back in 1975, called it “an ignorant debasement of language”, which seems much too powerful a condemnation). Writers are less inclined to abuse it these days, perhaps because Americans have had time to get used to it.

A bit of history first: the original expression, of course, was I couldn’t care less, meaning “it is impossible for me to have less interest or concern in this matter, since I am already utterly indifferent”. It is originally British. The first record of it in print I know of is in 1901, in a story published both in the Church Standard and the Sunday Magazine. It seems to have reached the US in the late 1940s and to have become popular in the latter part of that decade. The inverted form I could care less was coined in the US and is found only there. It may have begun to be used in the early 1960s, though it turns up in a written form only in 1966.

Why it lost its negative has been much discussed. It’s clear that the process is different from the shift in meaning that took place with cheap at half the price. In that case, the inversion was due to a mistaken interpretation of its meaning, as has happened, for example, with beg the question.

In these cases people have tried to apply logic, and it has failed them. Attempts to be logical about I could care less also fail. Taken literally, if one could care less, then one must care at least a little, which is obviously the opposite of what is meant. It is so clearly logical nonsense that to condemn it for being so (as some commentators have done) misses the point. The intent is obviously sarcastic — the speaker is really saying, “As if there was something in the world that I care less about”.

However, this doesn’t explain how it came about in the first place. Something caused the negative to vanish even while the original form of the expression was still very much in vogue and available for comparison. Stephen Pinker, in The Language Instinct, points out that the pattern of intonation in the two versions is very different.

There’s a close link between the stress pattern of I could care less and the kind that appears in certain sarcastic or self-deprecatory phrases that are associated with the Yiddish heritage and (especially) New York Jewish speech. Perhaps the best known is I should be so lucky!, in which the real sense is often “I have no hope of being so lucky”, a closely similar stress pattern with the same sarcastic inversion of meaning. There’s no evidence to suggest that I could care less came directly from Yiddish, but the similarity is suggestive. There are other American expressions that have a similar sarcastic inversion of apparent sense, such as Tell me about it!, which usually means “Don’t tell me about it, because I know all about it already”. These may come from similar sources.

So it’s actually a very interesting linguistic development. But it is still regarded as slangy, and also has some social class stigma attached. And because it is hard to be sarcastic in writing, it loses its force when put on paper and just ends up looking stupid. In such cases, the older form, while still rather colloquial, at least will communicate your meaning — at least to those who really could care less.

http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm

Interesting stuff :pipe2:

[Niamh.]

Oh thanks for that Matt, it was a good read

[mizzy25]

Its couldnt care less

[Kizzy]

Was chatting with my daughter about the word 'prococious'
I've always thought it was derogatory term for children, but it isn't.

[Kizzy]

Was chatting with my daughter about the word 'prococious'
I've always thought it was derogatory term for children, but it isn't.

[Sophiee]

I don't understand this either. it's obviously couldn't or else you're saying you do care :suspect:.

[smeagol]

never ever heard anyone say could care less. its wrong if they do

personally i prefer i could give a flying sht lol - you know where you are with that line

or one i use all the time. does this look like a face that cares lol

[Ammi]

..couldn't care less..or could care less but not much less...(like Livia said..)...

[Firewire]

Couldn't care less means you don't care
Could care less means you care a little

[seanraff07]

Could care less just sounds ridiculous

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

It's just like "Do you mind?" "Yes go ahead"

Couldn't care less.

[Vicky.]

Couldnt...could means you actually care :laugh:

[Tregard]

om7O0MFkmpw

[Niamh.]

om7O0MFkmpw

:laugh2: brilliant

[Ithinkiloveyoutoo]

now that I think about it "we get on like a house on fire" what the hell does that mean.

[Munchkins]

Couldnt care less

Could care less makes NO SENSE? if you could care less then its obviously not that big of a problem, as theres more things that would bother you lol

[james130]

'I couldn't care less' is a full sentence, 'I could care less' isn't
it is incomplete.
'I could care less, but I don't'
' I could care less, and I do'
That makes sense to me.

'I couldn't care less' is definitely correct grammatically and correct for the way it is used.
Although, I could care less could be a full sentence too.
If someone asked 'are you not really bothered?'
You could reply 'I could care less,' meaning you do care slightly...

[lily.]

Was chatting with my daughter about the word 'prococious'
I've always thought it was derogatory term for children, but it isn't.

Did you mean 'precocious'?

It is a term for children, but it's not necessarily an insult. Although, I would use it more in an insulting manner. I'd be more likely to say 'precocious little brat!' But really it just means that they're old before their time. I think people tend to use it more about kids who are a bit too smart-mouthed for their own good. lol

[Munchkins]

Did you mean 'precocious'?

It is a term for children, but it's not necessarily an insult. Although, I would use it more in an insulting manner. I'd be more likely to say 'precocious little brat!' But really it just means that they're old before their time. I think people tend to use it more about kids who are a bit too smart-mouthed for their own good. lol

Ive often heard it used for teens who are sexually active early too :L

[lily.]

Ive often heard it used for teens who are sexually active early too :L

I've never heard that. I think a lot of these words are used in different ways depending on the area you live.