Why do people use the ridiculous expression: “I could care less”? Don’t they realize that this is the exact opposite of what they are trying to convey?
The intended meaning is that the person does not care at all, but the literal meaning of the phrase is that the person actually does care. Does anyone follow what I’m saying?
I think the proper expression would be to say “I couldn’t care less.”
Anyone know the story behind this?
Yes. People are frelling idiots.
I’m sure I speak for us all when I say we could all care less.
Marc
I’m generally a real stickler for clarity of expression, but I’ve always let this one slide because somehow not getting it quite right seems to express even greater apathy.
Not a theory of origin; just a sense that it’s somehow appropriate as is.
I just think they could care less about grammar.
Simulposts with simulsentiments!
How did I know this was going to happen? There’s just something about meta-humor that otherwise intelligent people are powerless to resist.
I could care less.
Head over heels.
Cheap at half the price.
WAG: irony.
I’ve always just heard this as sarcasm, along the lines of “I could care less … like maybe about the 1938 betel-nut production in Pago Pago”.
I’ve always used both the common expession and the “correct” expression. Why? Because I look at it this way. “I could care less” to me means there are some things that I care less about, but not many. I couldn’t care less is of course the absolute bottom of the caring scale. Its a difference of degrees of not caring.
There ain’t no problem with that.
I once went to my uncle to tell him a story I thought would concern him and he said: “Out of 100 things in life, I couldn’t care less about 99 of them… and this is one of them”.
So what was the 1938 betel-nut production in Pago Pago? I’m just dying to know…
My dad told me about an expression people used when he was a kid, a facetious answer to a dumb question. (Since then, I use it myself)
To wit: “I don’t know, and I could care less.” Meaning, “The answer to your question is ‘null,’ and my interest in the subject thereof is even less than that.”
It probably mutated from that, much the same way that “irregardless” mutated from the legitimate terms “regardless” and “irregard.”
[pulls a number out of thin air]
About two hogsheads per capita.
Rather a lot, really.
I always say it this way–>
“I could care less, but it would require a strong hit to the head, and specialized anti-caring equipment”
or something like that.
Irregard ain’t a word. Disregard.
This post has been brought to you in part by The Sosiety Fer Gooder Spellin An Grammer.