# I could care less.... **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 7, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006 "2001-10-07T23:29:31Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 12\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/1 "2001-10-07T23:29:31Z")
Could one of the linguists out there explain this americanism that I have been seeing around the boards now and again, please…? In [this](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?threadid=91510) thread, **msmith537** wrote > [@](#): > > Personally, **I could care less** of some beurocrat has to sit through my mundane conversations with my girlfriend if it will prevent terrorists from driving a car bomb into the Lincoln tunnel or something. Um, does this not mean that you **do** care? What happened to “I **couldn’t** care less”? I ain’t having a pop at **msmith537** or anything - it’s just that I happened to notice the phrase in his/her post. 🙂 To me it makes no sense (no change there then!), but p’raps someone out there could enlighten this confused Brit?! – Quirm ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/2 "2001-10-07T23:34:45Z")
yeah I could care less = I care more than the logical minimum that I could care. (another confused Brit checking in here) ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/3 "2001-10-07T23:42:47Z")
American here. I always assumed it was a corruption of “I couldn’t care less”. And it’s one of my pet peeves, I agree it means the opposite of what people think it means. ---
**Author:** ![Gaspode](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/aeb1de/32.png) [@Gaspode](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gaspode)\ **Post date:** [October 7, 2001, 11:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/4 "2001-10-07T23:59:17Z")
This gained popularity in Australia about 15 or so years ago. It started out as "I could care less, but it would take an effort’ or something similar. Basically I’m not completely disinterested, but damn close. From there it got shortened to “I could care less”, which is thankfully not heard much. I assume something similar probably happened in the US. ---
**Author:** ![Wallenstein](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/b5a626/32.png) [@Wallenstein](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wallenstein)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/5 "2001-10-08T00:07:44Z")
Cheers **Gaspode** - that makes sense! Wonder how long it’ll be before we hear it this side of the pond… 🙂 – Quirm ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/6 "2001-10-08T01:23:55Z")
The words to not literally mean what the phrase means. It almost certainly sprang from “I couldn’t care less,” but somewhere along the way, the _n’t_ got dropped. Similarly are the phrases “lock and load” and “head over heels,” both of which were flip-flopped over time. ---
**Author:** ![typo\_mna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/eb8c5e/32.png) [@typo\_mna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/typo_mna)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 1:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/7 "2001-10-08T01:29:13Z")
I used to bite people’s heads off when they used this ridiculous phrase, figuring it was, indeed, a nonsensical abbreviation of “I couldn’t care less”. Then, however, I realized it COULD be interpreted as, “I could care less…” as in, “I could care less, but it would be difficult”. Not as likely, I think, but food for thought, perhaps. ---
**Author:** ![samclem](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a9a28c/32.png) [@samclem](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/samclem)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/8 "2001-10-08T01:43:30Z")
[Maven’s](http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19960610) gives a nice treatment, including time periods of usage. ---
**Author:** ![Glenoled](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/c0e974/32.png) [@Glenoled](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Glenoled)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 1:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/9 "2001-10-08T01:47:59Z")
I always assumed that it was just a form of sarcasm… like, “I could care less… really I could…” Glenoled ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 2:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/10 "2001-10-08T02:12:52Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Quirm \* > Um, does this not mean that you **do** care? > > What happened to “I **couldn’t** care less”? > \*\* I think Glenoled has it right. It’s not as bad when people say things like “I am literally going insane” when they mean “figuratively”. Or using made up words like supposably. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/11 "2001-10-08T02:23:16Z")
It sounds silly to me too, but I’m going to go with **typo mna** ’s theory. That seems to me the most logical. ---
**Author:** ![TheLoadedDog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/35a633/32.png) [@TheLoadedDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TheLoadedDog)\ **Post date:** [October 8, 2001, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/12 "2001-10-08T02:24:21Z")
Damn. Preview is my casual acquaintance.