"can't be asked"

[BOOooOOooOObsOnTheMoon]

I've seen this on MN several times in the last week or two and haven't ever noticed it previously.

Do people mean "can't be arsed" (which would always fit, whenever I've seen it) or is "can't be asked" a similar saying that I've just never heard of?

I had a child use this in school when she was complaining that the others wanted her to play and she wanted to sit quietly. I was glad she had it wrong.

It's usually autocorrect, much like 'ducking'

It’s not autocorrect. People say it too.

the correct term is ‘arsed’ it’s one of those things that people said wrong and it became a thing.

People get it wrong, they genuinely believe that's the phrase.

'Asked' is just a politer way of saying 'arsed' in this context.

Like 'could care less' it's nonsensical and just used because people have misheard it originally (luckily in the case of the small child)

North London and it's a thing that was said when I was at school 15 years + ago

I think it's just because to some southerners arsed sounds like asked, and people have misheard "can't be arsed". Given long enough, the mishearing takes on a life of its own.

It'd be like me saying "Boris Johnson is a right couldn't".

"could care less" is used in US English.

Back in the 1980s, the first person I ever heard who used the expression definitely said "asked", and we all picked it up from her.

There seems to be a school of thought that believes "asked" became "arsed" in the 1990s and another which believes the opposite. Though a quick Google says Hunter Davies used "can't be arsed" in 1968.

Yep here's the OED entry for arsed meaning bothered, which links to prior uses of "arse" in phrases about being bothered to do something.

Also the Hunter Davies reference you mentioned — a biography of the Beatles, and with his accent, Paul McCartney wouldn't have been saying anything that sounded like "asked".

It's not autocorrect, I've just checked and between 5 adults with a mix of phones none of us could get arsed to autocorrect to asked!

It drives me nuts. It is "can't be arsed" and people should say it properly.

People from the US do this a lot. I've noticed it on the podcasts I listen to. Annoys mw every time.

Maybe people have been saying it to me for years without me noticing! It's easy to spot when they type it, but would be missed in actual conversation.

"Can't be asked" sounds like a person is unavailable.

It’s ironic really as many Southern people try to say asked actually say arksed from what I’ve seen on EastEnders.

It’s like people writing upmost instead of utmost.

“Like I could care less” was a sarcastic response originally in North America when I was young. Somehow it overtook “couldn’t care less”

'Could care less' is still wrong whether in British or American English. It means the opposite of what the person is actually trying to say.

Definitely ‘ can’t be arsed’ in the 1970s!!

It's the more widely used variant in US English.

Some historical linguists think that the phrase went over to the US from the UK having been misheard and was therefore absorbed into the English used there in a different form, others that it's simply an example of Jespersen's Cycle (where over a long period of time particles used to express negation are lost, while the utterance as a whole keeps its negative meaning) while others still think it stems from more complete phrases like "I didn't care then, and could care less now" (etc)

"Could care less" also appeared in British English in the 1800s though neither "couldn't care less" nor "could care less" became common usage until the last century.

Only language bloggers and the less reputable online dictionaries like to assert it's "wrong".

We might not use it, but I'd not be presumptuous enough to say it was "wrong".

My friend was from Cheshire. I wonder if there were differences depending on where you were from? I'm Notts, and had never heard it until 1984 when I met her at university.

I'm from London with relatives all down south and I've never heard any of them say anything other than 'arsed' .
I thought 'asked' was a 90's era polite, or child misheard version.

Interesting idea! I’m Herefordshire/Welsh borders with Yorkshire parents.

I know most people younger than me believe it’s arse but they are wrong.

The only evidence that it is arse is a misquote in the 1960s by a journalist regarding one of the Beatles. It goes back much earlier than that.

The explanation used for it changing from arse to ask is actually the wrong way round. It was not changed to ask because arse was considered a swear word. It was always ask. Although arse was and is a swear word it was used a great deal before censorship was introduced. ‘Silly Arse’ was a common term so saying ‘I can’t be arsed’ would not have seemed improper to a working class audience.

The phrase actually meant I was too tired from working in the fields and I could not be asked, told or even ordered to do anything even by God.