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.

OMG, this makes me so angry - I've noticed it more in the last couple of years, particularly on TV and from some (apparently) well-educated folk (politicians, etc)
It's so much harder to say 'a apple' than an apple
And don't get me started on 'setting a president'... again, seemingly educated people use this willy-nilly. I listened to a series of podcasts about Captain Tom, in which the presenter used this endlessly. I had to stop listening
But no doubt we'll be flamed and told that language evolves. Well yes it does, but not to the extent that it makes no sodding sense

Actually I can't stand people saying ass instead of arse. We aren't talking about a donkey.

Wow!! I can't believe people are advocating for 'can't be asked'

My children firmly state that 'can't be arsed' makes no sense whereas 'can't be asked' does actually mean something.. They look at me in disbelief and make little giggling noises, 'Can't be arsed? What does that mean, though?'

I knew it wasn’t of from a young age. It astounds me that adults who have jobs and families and grown up lives write ‘could of. Verbally, I can see why people might hear of but surely by the time you’ve reached adulthood you know it’s have. (Excluding anyone with learning/reading issues). It boggles my mind.

Absolutely!

@Fran2023 , it started as sarcasm - I remember when it was first all the rage. I think it was mid/late 80s to early by 90s. We all went from “I couldn’t care less”
to a heavily sarcastic tone of “I could care less.”

There was also that godawful phase a couple of years later of “He’s so smart. NOT!” - everything was contradictory and sarcastic. God, American teens are awful when they think they’re being cool. (I fully include myself and my mates in that condemnation)

Over the years the sarcastic reversal was so ubiquitous it became the expression and “I couldn’t care less” was the outlier.

Yes! It annoys me too. "I could care less" infers that you care somewhat whereas "I couldn't care less" simply communicates that you do not care at all i.e. you cannot possibly care any less than you already do.

See also nonplussed which means surprised/confused/unsure how to respond. But many people use it to mean not bothered/unfazed. There also seems to be a growing trend of saying "not fussed" about something when the person means actively not liking/wanting something. I would use it to mean "I don't mind it/wouldn't make a fuss about it".

There also seems to be a trend for not finishing words correctly. For example, "worse case scenario" (worst), "he is bias" (biased), "having a chill morning" (chilled) and my pet hate - "pack lunch".

Just a few more - I'm getting carried away now: "step foot" instead of set foot, "upmost" instead of utmost, "per say" instead of per se and "here here" instead of hear hear. I guess many people don't read as much these days except TikTok captions, which are often wrong. I read a thread on here about a year ago where someone was describing a driving issue and kept saying "the rightaway" and it took me ages to realise she meant right of way. How she passed her theory test I do not know.

Ah, that feels better!

I will admit that I only leaned on here that I had been incorrectly using "baited breath" for years instead of "bated". A mumsnetter kindly explained that the word hails from "abate" which suddenly made perfect sense.

The people that really need to know this stuff won't click on this thread though.

This isn't a grammar one but still an Americanism: I've got to the point now where I am unreasonably annoyed by the American style of eating. I have quite a few American friends and it pains me to watch them cut up their food into little bits and then put their knife down and swap the fork over. It's like watching a small child use cutlery. For any Americans reading - I'm sorry, I know it's how you're taught, but it's awful!

My children firmly state that 'can't be arsed' makes no sense whereas 'can't be asked' does actually mean something.. They look at me in disbelief and make little giggling noises, 'Can't be arsed? What does that mean, though?'

I suppose it is a truncated way of saying "I cannot be bothered to get up off my arse and do it". Makes perfect sense. Whereas "can't be asked" does not. You certainly CAN be asked to do something but may not actually be arsed to do it.

It really isn't. It's an incorrect version of "I couldn't care less" proliferated by social media. It's a recent phenomenon most probably started by uneducated Americans (and there are lots of those). It is not, and never has been, part of the American language.

People pick up the slang from
other cultures. They know full well they aren’t referring to donkeys. Using it to mean bum isn’t wrong.

Ass is a slightly impolite term for bum; much less rude than Arse. Tush, Butt or Fanny are informal but even less rude.

The latter got me into a fair bit of bother when I first emigrated to the U.K. “Park
your fannys on chairs and let’s get started” was not an acceptable way to start a session, apparently

I've often heard people saying pacific when they mean specific. I have also seen this written down!

Sorry, but I don't agree with you. If anyone is too mealy mouthed to say arse then use another euphemism. We have plenty of those.
We don't use tush, butt or fanny either, as I'm sure you know fanny means vulva in the UK.

The theory test wouldn’t use right of way as la phrase. It uses priority (as does the Highway Code). There is a good chance she had never seen it written down.
We all say right of way when we mean priority.

As I explained above, that is rubbish. It’s a variant that came about because of a trend for heavy sarcasm, and the variant became the norm. That’s how cultures work.

Don’t be so bloody rude about an entire population. It doesn’t make you look superior, it makes you looks nasty and ignorant.

Being dual heritage, I have a foot in each camp. I rarely hear North America’s being so nasty about the U.K. as I see Brits being about the States and having it stand unchallenged.

He's instead of his. Used repeatedly so clearly not a typo.

As a Scottish person where we pronounce every last syllable of everything.....

One that irrationally winds me up is when people type "draw" when they mean "drawer". Obviously the two words sound exactly the same in quite a lot of English accents, but when you think in a Scottish accent it really bugs!

Yes, as said above, I learnt that somewhat abruptly when I moved here. I don’t think the rural Guides group I was volunteering was expecting it either.

Some people do say butt. Lots of people say ass. Language trends shift and change.
I may pull my hair out when my kids say literally when they mean figuratively, but people still do it.

(I’m kidding about that last one - my poor kids have had it bludgeoned into them never to use literally like that in front of me because I’ll go off on a rant. See also “nonplussed” and “hence why.”)

Guilty .

In my first language we don't have the articles at all, and while I can mostly appreciate the difference between A and THE, the A/AN doesn't bring any meaning to the sentence, it is just pronunciation hint. And English pronunciation is weird, so it isn't just "if it starts with vowel put there AN", because then words like yacht and yoghurt come in, and the logic goes out of the window.

Ok, I've just googled it and found that Y isn't a full vowel in English, it is switching it's nature. Ok, I can live with that; in my language letters R and L can be used in the "nearly vowel" role. I just haven't realised that the set of full vowels I've learnt at school isn't universal...

On the other hand, the reason ‘another think’ never sounds completely correct is that thinking is not something that happens in discrete chunks. It’s a continuous process, that ramps up and down. The result of a stream of thinking could well be then distilled into a series of thoughts, that then become actions. But they are not separate thinks.

On the other other hand, if you use the ‘another thing coming’ in the context of what you are expecting to receive, it makes more sense. If she thinks she’s going to get a new car for her birthday, she’s got another thing coming does clearly convey that they thing she’s expecting (a car) isn’t what she’ll get, she’s getting another thing…perhaps a bike :)

I agree OP! Just because it is used by a lot of ill informed people does not make it correct, nor does it convey what they want it to.

By saying "I could care less", they are saying that they do in fact, care.

What they mean to say is "I could not care less [because I already care as little as possible... i.e not at all]"

Could not has been shortened to couldn't, which via lazy speech* has ended up sounding like could. What baffles me is how people repeat what they hear, without stopping to consider if it makes sense!

*is this what's known as a glottal stop? Someone more knowledgable than me will be along in a minute...

Grasp the ‘nettle’, I know it makes sense but it annoys me. Along with dull as ‘dishwater’.

Going back to ‘of’ instead of ‘have’, I find it totally bewildering that people who type this must see ‘have’ being used and just completely ignore it. They never question themselves.

Pre covid this was an oft repeated thread on here, some hugely heated 'debates'.

@Fran2023 it's another 'debate' that used to happen regularly. I still see it occasionally (the debate not the phrase) the phrase still happens and drives me up the wall too.

try not to worry about the state of the world, you can't do anything about it & worrying in advance isn't going to change it, just ruin the life you have now x

What's wrong with dull as dishwater?

Yes, it's annoying. I believe it's the American way of saying the expression - and clearly they're wrong!!
Another thing that annoys me is the use of the double negative in languages like Spanish. I used to live in Spain and they say things like "I don't have no cheese" or "I don't have nothing". Drives me mad!

My biggest SPAG gripe is people who've forgotten how to use a space.

Abit? Alot? We learned how to spell these words when we were 4 or 5, for god's sake.

It gets worse and is becoming more widespread, I've seen incase, infront, atleast.