Recently I have started seeing the phrase “can’t be asked” to mean “can’t be bothered”. (Most recent sighting in this thread here.)
What’s that all about? The phrase I know and love is “can’t be arsed”. Is this “asked” variant some sort of polite hyper-correction, or is it people mishearing, or is it a whole new phrase? 
I’ve never seen this usage until your link.
In this case, however, I think the person’s location/nationality may come into it. As far as I have ascertained, Pookah is an American ex-pat living in Ireland (correct me if this is wrong), and therefore it’s likely that s/he has misheard Irish people saying “I can’t be arsed” (though the strong “R” in the Irish accent counts somewhat against my theory).
Ah, I was wrong - Pookah is in fact Dutch, and despite the incredible ability of many Dutch people to speak and write English at least as well (if not better than) native speakers, there may be some confusion with slang that isn’t often seen written down.
Well, a Google search for “can’t be asked” comes up with 2,460 hits, but there are a lot of false positives (eg “teachers can’t be asked to continue to pay for supplies out of their won pockets”).
However, Google for “can’t be asked” arsed and you get nearly 50 hits, mostly people pointing out this error by other people!
Surely “teachers can’t be asked to continue to pay for supplies out of their own pockets…” is perfectly reasonable?
I suspect this is the UK we’re talking about - in which case it makes total sense to me!
FWIW I think people are mishearing “Can’t be Arsed” which is a common enough phrase where I come from.
I am sure teachers can’t be arsed to do many things they are asked to do, but I doubt it would be reported in precisely those terms.
But then… I don’t know where the quote appeared!
Ooops!
Of course if I’d actually looked…
I see the US has similar problems to the UK.
And I always thought Springfield was a fictional city.
Surely that quote is equivalent to “Teachers should not be asked to…”, which is perfectly correct?
“You know, we just can’t ask you guys anything here in GQ.”
“You guys can’t be asked anything here.”
Not quite the same tone, the former vs. the latter. But I think that both are fairly obvious in what they’re being asked to convey.
Seems like “can’t be asked” to mean “can’t be bothered” is a natural extension of this precept. “You can’t ask him, he’ll just blow you off.” (in the US, that’s not sexual) “You can’t ask him, he won’t bother to do it.” “He can’t be asked.” Seems okay by me.
Of course there’re the sticklers who may claim that “can” and “may” are two different things in English, which complicates the issue. If you tell me I can’t go the bathroom, I’ll see you in the Pit.
Yes, which is why I said that Googling for the phrase is tricky because it comes up with a lot of false positives, i.e. instances where people actually did mean “can’t be asked”.
My question was about the usage where people clearly meant “can’t be arsed”, but used “can’t be asked”, which still came up with quite a few instances on Google. Do you understand what I mean?
And Balthisar, you are missing the point, too.
I am not disputing that the bit about teachers is perfectly right and correct - I only mentioned to demonstrate why it is hard to Google for the incorrect usage, because there are plenty of cases where it is correct to say somebody can’t be asked to do something.
What I meant was usage as in the OP, where people are obviously misusing “asked” when it should be “arsed”. I wondered if it is widespread, but judging by the confusion this question has generated, I guess it isn’t! :rolleyes:
Frankly, I’ve never heard a non-European/Australian say “arsed.” Have the sources of the “can’t be asked” thing you’ve been seeing been anything but American?
Maybe a dumb question, but was does arsed mean? I know arse is slang for buttocks. But can’t be arsed doesn’t make much sense to me.
Gotcha – as a yank, I imagine that I didn’t understand, being that we don’t use “arse” at all. For anything. Unless it’s saying, “The British have this word ‘arse.’” Or we’re watching BBC America.
So, pray tell, what’s the phrased “can’t be arsed” actually mean? “Can’t be assed?” In which case maybe you’re only hearing “asked” rather than “assed.” Still, that literal interpretation leaves me wanting.
“Can’t be arsed” = “Can’t be bothered”
No idea why, it just does 
Well, in that case can’t be asked was probably the original and still correct phrase, and can’t be arsed is a nonsensical coarsening of the original. Sort of like how some people take the phrase what the hell? (originally what in hell, i.e., what has hell sent to bedevil me?) and coarsen it to the nonsensical what the fuck.
If we’re getting into etymologies, how about these:
Arse up
Half-arsed
Arse over tit
Arse about
Get your arse in gear
Short-arse
Smart-arse
Stupid arse
This one is literal. To go arse over tit means to take a tumble. Your arse ends up over you tit(s), rather than the usual alignment.
I think it’s likely that “Can’t be arsed” is the original phrase. I would guess it means: “I can’t be bothered arseing about”.
“Arseing about” in this context means: “going to all that trouble”
Why “Arseing about”?
Dunno. I’d look it up but I can’t be arsed.
(I think that in the UK WTF could be interpreted as “What the fucking hell… is going on?” but I’ve got no evidence for that obviously.)
how about
“It is in me arse” ( = “it isn’t” )
I certainly don’t think “can’t be asked” is the original phrase. It has to be a mishearing of “can’t be arsed”, in the same way that people say “I did it off my own back” (instead of bat) or “could of” instead of “could have”.
I have looked it up in Cassell’s Dictionary of Slang (fascinating book!), which says:
And looking up the fifth meaning of arse as a noun, it says:
So it looks as if it is derived from US slang. Certainly I use “the arse” to mean a bad mood, as in “No need to get the arse on” if someone is getting het up, but didn’t link that with “can’t be arsed”.
Ain’t language great?