I could care less/I could give a damn

[Fran2023]

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.

Drives me crackers as well as saying “brought” when meaning bought.

I had to bite my tongue the other day when a friend said they “brought their first house” I wanted to ask where from?!

The other annoyance is people saying “literally” when they mean figuratively. When people say they “literally died” or “literally were scared to death” I always want to correct them but unfortunately literally is changing meaning.

Enjoy!

I also cannot stand people who say, “I borrowed him some money,” when they lent money. It’s lent!

“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. They started using it wrong and it caught on. Doesn’t make it correct. It’s wrong.
The educated Americans I know say it properly.

I was going to post this, but @Onthesideofthespiders got there first. This is the answer! God love David Mitchell.

Well how about tackling the baby talk that’s everywhere on here:

eg “me and my DH went to” = “me went to” -
— why?

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.”

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!

Not as annoying as I find "a ways to go" as in "Here is our renovation project so far, we still have a ways to go". A singular article with a plural noun? I think not!

I agree. But I have seen a very heated thread on here about that!

Its correct if the speaker intends to give the message that the thing has some importance to them. In the UK its a way to say the thing has no importance, so wouldn't be correct. The other way it makes some sense is if originally it has 'like' at the beginning 'like I could care less...' and the like has been dropped.

Loose instead of lose is the one that annoys me the most. The majority of people on Mumsnet spell it incorrectly. Brought instead of bought is something I’ve only seen since I joined Mumsnet.

OP I think we could be best friends. This exact issues takes up far more head space than it should but it drives me insane!!! I feel so validated by you!

Her and I. No its ' she and I '.
And ect for etc. It's et cetera meaning and the rest.
I'll go now.

Of instead of have, makes me wild !

It fills me with furious rage.

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!

The incorrect use*!

Typical on a thread about grammar I make a typo!

It doesn’t make sense though, do they mean they do care? 🤷‍♀️

Just as long as nobody arks me a question....

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.

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

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.

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!

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” 😤