# Words one can get confused

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [September 18, 2022, 8:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772 "2022-09-18T20:10:31Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 642

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**Author:** ![eburacum45](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/eburacum45/32/8690_2.png) [@eburacum45](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/eburacum45)\
**Post date:** [October 29, 2023, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/words-one-can-get-confused/971772/642 "2023-10-29T16:40:55Z")

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> [@Amia](#):
>
> Secondly, if you are not concerned about a topic , you could NOT care less. Think about it.

This isn’t really a word you can get confused’. It is an idiom, and we’ve had at least two threads dedicated to it.

> [@I could care less....](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/86006/10):
>
> 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.

> [@"I could care less"](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/i-could-care-less/696622?page=1):
>
> Now, I have done an advanced search and couldn’t find a thread on this topic anywhere, so hopefully I am not duplicating any previous discussion. The reason the thread is in General as opposed to Great Debates is because I would like to know whether the American expression “I could care less” has always been accepted usage, or whether the UK expression “I couldn’t care less” has ever been common currency in the States, and somehow became transmuted into “I could care less”. I am not seeking …

Put me in the camp that says ‘you could care less’ is a perfectly cromulent idiom.

However, ‘cromulent’ is itself a word with debatable status.

> [@"Embiggen" is now a perfectly cromulent word](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/embiggen-is-now-a-perfectly-cromulent-word/810105?page=1):
>
> [At least according to Merriam-Webster, that is.](http://www.businessinsider.com/embiggen-simpsons-2018-3?r=UK&IR=T) Embiggen, [defined as](https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/embiggen) “to make bigger or more expansive : enlarge, expand”, is part of the new crop of words the dictionary has added this year. Can “crapulence”, “boostafazoo”, “adultivity”, and “dumbening” be far behind?

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