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Original poster

I could care less/I could give a damn

195 replies

Fran2023 · 03/12/2024 08:04

Trivial I know, but I’m trying to keep my mind off the mess that the world is in.

Does it bother anyone else when you hear or read someone saying ‘I could care less’ when they mean ‘I couldn’t care less’ ?

What this mistake means is the opposite to the what they (appear) to mean. For example: ‘I could give a damn that you need a lift to the station. I’m busy!’

Anyway, just wanted to share and as it’s only me and the cat this morning and she told me that she ‘could care less’ I’m posting here.

OP posts:
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NZDreaming · 03/12/2024 09:05

Not technically grammar but it really irks me when people use the phrase ‘the customer is always right’ to excuse any behaviour. The actual phrase is ‘the customer is always right in matters of taste’ ie the shop assistant shouldn’t voice judgement of a terrible outfit if the customer likes it. It does not mean the shop assistant has to put up with awful behaviour by the customer or bow to their every whim.

GETTINGLIKEMYMOTHER · 03/12/2024 09:04

‘Between you and I’ is one of my ‘favourites’ - it makes me wince inside, especially since people who say it invariably think they’re being ‘correct’.

Presumably nobody has ever explained to them why it’s wrong. I count myself lucky in that I had a parent who put me straight very early on.

CyranoDeBergerQuack · 03/12/2024 09:03

Mostly American usage, @Fran2023
I wonder if they ever actually listen to the words they use, and consider whether or not they make sense in the context they are used.
Then again, many people use words incorrectly - for example, regime instead of regimen winds me up

XWKD · 03/12/2024 09:03

Pussycat22 · 03/12/2024 08:37

Of instead of have, makes me wild !

Me too. I can't understand how anyone could be so ignorant.

Lemonbell · 03/12/2024 09:03

This reply has been withdrawn

This has been withdrawn by MNHQ at the poster's request.

Anonym00se · 03/12/2024 09:02

I don’t understand the ‘think’ one. Should it not be “If you think that, you have another thought coming”?

My pet rage is a very modern phrase that DD says - “Don’t deep it, Mum!”. I can’t ‘deep’ anything, it’s not a verb it’s a fucking adjective!

Cattery · 03/12/2024 09:01

If you listen carefully lots of younger people say “I was taken back” instead of aback

Onthesideofthespiders · 03/12/2024 09:00

Chonk · 03/12/2024 08:55

I'm sure they think they should really smart

🤔😁

Show quote history

Haha. Sorry. Typing without my glasses in which means typing to a fuzzy white screen with black doodles on it.

Was meant to say, “Sound really smart.”

Cardboardeaux · 03/12/2024 09:00

DaphnesCafe · 03/12/2024 08:58

People who think saying/writing ‘Daphne and I’ is always the correct grammar.

And ‘of’ instead of ‘have’.

Or worse, things like "if yourself could just pop that in an email to Daphne and I" 😑

MoodEnhancer · 03/12/2024 08:59

Agree. Drives me nuts!

NewGreenDuck · 03/12/2024 08:59

Off my own back! It's bat for crying out loud!

FoxtonFoxton · 03/12/2024 08:58

Another think coming makes total sense.

I've seen a lot of 'I suffer from mental health' and 'I have mental health'. Everyone has mental health!

Cardboardeaux · 03/12/2024 08:58

Alibababandthe40sheets · 03/12/2024 08:15

“I could care less” is the American version of “I couldn’t care less”. Wrong to my ears too but still a “correct” version.

It's not correct. I think it may originally have been a sarcastic "as if I could care less!" but it makes no sense without the first bit whichever side of the pond you're on.

DaphnesCafe · 03/12/2024 08:58

People who think saying/writing ‘Daphne and I’ is always the correct grammar.

And ‘of’ instead of ‘have’.

crumpet · 03/12/2024 08:57

evilharpy · 03/12/2024 08:47

I'm in my mid forties and have never in my life heard "another think coming". It doesn't make any sense.

Show quote history

It does - on the sense of “you had a thought (eg that something was right), but you’re wrong and need to think of it in a different way”. Not very well expressed I know, but that’s the gist - is another mindset is needed. As another bad example:

”He thought he could do whatever he liked but has another think coming”

DarkAndTwisties · 03/12/2024 08:55

I'm in my mid forties and have never in my life heard "another think coming". It doesn't make any sense.

It makes complete sense. "If you think X, you've got another think coming" - it's like saying "if you think X, think again".
Thinking again is having another think. So if you will need to think again, you have another think coming.

I've written think too many times now it doesn't look like a real word!

Chonk · 03/12/2024 08:55

Onthesideofthespiders · 03/12/2024 08:28

And the “myself” everywhere on this forum!
Myself and my husband.
He gave myself a book.
Idiots! Really, it’s stupidity and people think they sound smart too; I’m sure they think they should really smart but I read it and think, “wow, they’re stupid.”

I'm sure they think they should really smart

🤔😁

BlackJacktheDog · 03/12/2024 08:55

I'm in my mid forties and have never in my life heard "another think coming". It doesn't make any sense.

It makes sense in the fuller context...

e.g. If you THINK you are going to get away with that, you've got another THINK coming

i.e. you will have to change your mind (thinks) because that's not going to happen.

GridlockonMain · 03/12/2024 08:55

@evilharpy It’s a contentious debate!

The original phrase is ‘if you think X, you have another think coming’ - as in, some event is going to occur which will lead you to re-think your position. Over time, due to the phrase being misheard and misspoken, many people have started to use ‘if you think X, you have another thing coming’. Although the second version began as an error it is now almost equally widespread as the original and will likely overtake it.

To me, it’s ‘another thing coming’ which doesn’t make sense. What is the first ‘thing’? Saying ‘Another think’ is a vaguely witty callback to the first think, so the two parts of the phrase are linked. But I appreciate that the version people grow up hearing is the one that will sound correct to them.

Here is a nice article on the subject: https://amp.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/18/mind-your-language-another-think

If you’ve got ‘another thing coming’, you’ve got another think coming | Media | The Guardian

<strong>David Marsh</strong>: I don’t want to make a big thing about it, but I do think ‘think’ makes more sense when using this phrase

https://amp.theguardian.com/media/mind-your-language/2014/nov/18/mind-your-language-another-think

ItsMintUpNorth · 03/12/2024 08:52

@Onthesideofthespiders that's interesting I didn't know that Smile.

FuckItItsFine · 03/12/2024 08:49

It ruins one of my favourite Christmas songs - Yule Shoot Your Eye Out by Fall Out Boy.

The chorus ends with “Merry Christmas, I could care less” 😤

Onthesideofthespiders · 03/12/2024 08:48

ItsMintUpNorth · 03/12/2024 08:44

It's incorrect use of a/a for me... does 'then I had a orange and a apple' really sound right to you??

Now I'm confused how people actually do that as my phone realllly didn't want me to write 'a' there, I had to change it back from 'an' 3 times!

I kind of like things like that 🫣 because of how it can change language. An apron used to be called a napron but it evolved a few hundred years ago due to the split being moved from after the a to after the n.
A napron became an apron.

We could end up with a norange!

Original poster
Fran2023 · 03/12/2024 08:47

I have found my people!

And thank you for the David Mitchell clip. I hadn’t seen that one!

@GridlockonMain You have unlocked another source of irritation. Previously I hadn’t noticed that particular pismronunciation.

OP posts:
evilharpy · 03/12/2024 08:47

GridlockonMain · 03/12/2024 08:28

Yes, it is annoying. I also find myself irked by ‘you’ve got another thing coming’ instead of ‘another think coming’, but that error is now so widespread it’s becoming an acceptable variant so I have to concede it’s a losing battle!

I'm in my mid forties and have never in my life heard "another think coming". It doesn't make any sense.

RunningUpTheHill · 03/12/2024 08:47

Boarder when it should be Border!

Border is a noun that means the boundary of a geographic location, such as a state or country. Border is also a verb that means to form such a boundary. Boarder is a noun that means a person renting lodging, which includes food.