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.

No it really is grasp the nettle. Because if you grab a stinging nettle quickly and hard, you break the little stingers and it doesn’t sting (as much).

No, it’s not! It’s been corrupted to nettle. It still makes sense but that’s not the original idiom. Mettle means bravery/strength etc.

I know what it means. Why would you ever “grasp the bravery”??

omg! can someone "borrow" me a cup of sugar? totally the wrong word!!

"bring" the kids to the park?? when they should really be saying "take" another wrong word which is just rubbish!

and you are right, could care less makes absolutely no sense and if they do not understand what the correct way of giving this meaning is, then they should not say it at all!

I wonder if some people actually attended school at all!

You can be “put on your mettle” ie required to use your bravery or be told to “show your mettle” but it’s grasp the nettle ie to do a tricky task, just get on with it quickly and it’ll be easier

The original is mettle, but I understand why it’s changed over time to nettle. I’m just a pedant.

You obviously don’t. It means to take hold of your inner strength and act.

"bring" the kids to the park?? when they should really be saying "take" another wrong word which is just rubbish!

Bring is correct in this sense in Hiberno-English (the version of English we speak in Ireland). We use bring and take according to the rules for the equivalents in Irish. Something to do with the person rather than the direction, or something like that. Tbh I can never wrap my head around it, but yes we would bring kids to the park.

The figure of speech "to grasp the nettle" probably originated from Aesop's fable "The Boy and the Nettle". In Seán O'Casey's Juno and the Paycock, one of the characters quotes Aesop "Gently touch a nettle and it'll sting you for your pains/Grasp it as a lad of mettle and soft as silk remains".

Mettle means character or strength- you can't grasp it.

It means to act upon your strength and to grasp your own mettle. That is the origin of the saying, we can argue all day over it, but that’s where it originally comes from.

It’s not that recent a phenomenon. It first appears in print in the 50s. Usually words and phrases don’t appear in books and newspapers until they are in common usage in speech.

Is anyone else amused that so many posters who are complaining that “I could care less” is grammatically incorrect and illogical are comparing it to “another thing/think coming”? 😂 Another think coming might be the original correct idiom but it isn’t grammatically correct!

What’s your source? It’s always been grasp your nettle.

I saw one on here the other day that irritated the fuck out of me. " Aloud" when the person meant " allowed".

It is grammatically correct. "Think" can be used a a noun in British English and has been supported as such by the OED since 1834.

https://www.mumsnet.com/talk/pedants_corner/505255-grasp-the-nettle-mettle-help-me-save-my-selfesteem

I can’t find any confirmation of this online, the internet seems fairly unanimous that the correct phrase is ‘nettle’. Let us know where you found mettle, I’m intrigued now!

Sorry, but I don’t think that’s true. Do you have a link for it? I think "grasp the nettle" is correct. In doing so, you show your mettle. https://www.oxfordreference.com/display/10.1093/acref/9780199539536.001.0001/acref-9780199539536-e-1535

All be it. Makes my toes curl.

@5128gap - still incorrect. It's 'I couldn't care less'. It's saying that you could not care any less about something than you do. You care about it at the lowest level possible.

I've been pondering this for ages, and I've started to wonder whether some people think the word 'mental' in 'mental health' means 'bad', in the way that some say something is 'mental' if it's not good....although this seems a bit of a stretch. Otherwise, I can't understand the misuse of the phrase at all.

I saw one the other day that had someone being "at a lose end" - I just hope it was a typo!

Aha! You still should have said that you couldn't care less. You were saying that the amount you cared about it couldn't have been any less.

Grasp the nettle where I'm from. Coming from if you firmly take hold of a nettle then you won't get stung as badly because you'll crush the little stinging hairs down. So dont dilly dally with it or it'll be more painful. According to my grandad who did indeed pull them up with his bare hands.

Yes, I know. I'm just trying to understand where the US version might be coming from.

It came from them being sarcastic and saying the phrase, “Like I could care less.” The like got dropped so now it doesn’t make sense. Your football example makes absolutely no sense. Just stick to the real version of what happened. Sarcasm gone wrong.