"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’m 70 and from East Anglia and it was asked. As I recall it’s from a Song about working on the fields. Yes most young people say arsed but not my generation that live near me.

No it’s nothing to do with a polite way of saying it. It was asked when I was a boy in the 60s. Always was until someone wrote it down wrong probably due to an accent.

It was ask in 1960.

Well it was originally a song and was ask. So it may well be arse now but it wasn’t when I was a boy in the 60s.

What did 'Can't be asked' mean in the context of the song? Did it mean can't be bothered? Is it like - there's no point asking them as they won't do it?

My 11yr old used the exact same phrase this morning and said she thought it was a real saying as I apparently say it all the time 😆. I do say “I can’t be arsed”

I've always thought "arsed" was a coarse version of the saying that should be asked.

It makes far more sense to say can't be asked to do something.

I would need to find it again but as I recall it was a song about being so exhausted and fed up that even God could not command him to do something. It didn’t just mean can’t be bothered. It meant he was prepared to be punished like being executed before doing what was asked.

I can remember the tune. It was like a hymn. The same goes for ‘Poor little Joe.’ That my Dad sang. I can’t find a version that includes his lyrics or the tune. So much American stuff if you google it. I wish now that I’d asked him to write it down.

Yes it was asked. Why it was changed to arse I can’t really say. The earliest written record of it being arse was what I believe to be a misquote in the 60s. Before then it was ask. My Grandad said ask and he had no trouble saying silly arse in front of me so why would he change it? He was 68in 1960.

My 8 year old son says this! 😂 I will not be correcting him.

Can't be arsed means can't be bothered

I don't know what can't be asked means, though?

I think it must be a mistake due to southerners mishearing northerners

I can’t speak for the 60s but through the 90s, 00s and 10s, ‘can’t be arsed’ has been standard and common British English. The first time I ever heard ‘can’t be asked’ from a native English speaker was relatively recently, from my own kids. We had to have a conversation explaining why their teachers might think they were being rude if they said that in school!

Susie Dent disagrees

twitter.com/susie_dent/status/1351219344412446722?lang=en

I have only ever heard cant be arsed, probably from kids in the 2010s (although I use it now myself, it does seem to capture a very specific type of disinclination) - however the youth also say CBA, or even 'ceebs'

Yes, it is a phrase in its own right.

'Can't be asked' makes no sense whatsoever in the contexts it is normally used.

It's a child friendly variation on the phrase. I substitute it for can't be arsed/ can't be fucked when children are around.

Asked does make more sense though and I do remember that song as well, that was asked.

As a child I used to think it was asked, and was told off for using it because others knew of it as arsed.

I can't be asked with this thread

If only they'd use the full phrase, it would make sense then! But I've never seen or heard it as anything but "I could care less" and it means the opposite, and sounds stupid. Be easier if they'd say "Like I care."

I've seen people say/type it that way a lot. I've always assumed they just had it wrong.

It's definitely nothing to do with southerners mishearing northerners. It's always been arsed, and I've always been in the south. Asked just makes no sense to me.

So many words are misheard, and then misspelled.

I want to scream every time I see or hear ‘prostrate cancer’. its prostate ffs. No second r.

Another vote here for can’t be arsed. I’ve never heard can’t be asked. And when did ‘set foot’ become ‘step foot’?

Was always arsed for me, too. And in my broad Bristle parents’ accent sounds nothing liked asked, so wouldn’t cause any confusion.

Also, can’t be asked doesn’t make sense as explained by pp. No matter how tired one is, you can always be asked anything by anyone. Whether you can be arsed to respond is another matter.