Could or couldn't care less

McGill · Apr 25, 2006

Can someone help me with this. When you want to say that you don't care about the opinion of another, which of the following is the correct way to do it?

She could care less what he thought.
or
She couldn't care less what he thought.

Thanks !

CaroGirl · Apr 25, 2006

McGill said:
Can someone help me with this. When you want to say that you don't care about the opinion of another, which of the following is the correct way to do it?

She could care less what he thought.
or
She couldn't care less what he thought.

Thanks !

Please, please, please...it's COULDN'T care less. If you want to be right, that is. She could care less means exactly the opposite.

Cat Scratch · Apr 25, 2006

Double-negative is the key.

I couldn't care less = I already care as little as I possibly can.

I could care less = I care at least a bit, because it is possible to care less than I already do.

The first is correct. Second is fingernails on a chalkboard.

McGill · Apr 25, 2006

Thanks guys, that's what I thought, but it's just you hear the other one so much, I wasn't sure. Thanks again!

Carmy · Apr 25, 2006

Thanks for bringing this up. I see "could care less" all over the place and it drives be nuts!

Carmy

aruna · Apr 25, 2006

Carmy said:
Thanks for bringing this up. I see "could care less" all over the place and it drives be nuts!

Carmy

Could care less! AAaaaarg!

This is possibly my absolute number one grammar pet peeve. Curiously, only Americans use it, I've never heard it used by the English, Scottish, Australiansm Guyanese etc. It is an absolute abomination. Even the rythm is wrong.

Doctor Shifty · Apr 26, 2006

I only see "could care less" in US usage. Here in Oz "couldn't" is the norm. And I can't recall it as being in US publications, just in web forums etc. I suspect it's conversational more than literary.

Oz has it's own ways of dumbing down the language with such things as "enormity" now meaning big.

Kim

Maryn · Apr 26, 2006

Be aware, too, that who's saying this phrase figures in to whether you make it technically correct. In my experience (this is US speakers), in general only the educated and/or thoughtful say they couldn't care less. The mistake that literally means the opposite has taken on an identical idiomatic meaning, even when it's said without a trace of sarcasm.

So if the person who's getting this phrase in dialogue, or your narrator, is not an educated person or one who's careful with language, they'd probably get it wrong and say they could care less.

Maryn, expert at muddying waters

Carmy · Apr 26, 2006

"Could care less" is creeping into Canada, too. Ugh!

Carmy

reph · Apr 26, 2006

Carmy said:
"Could care less" is creeping into Canada, too. Ugh!

You guys had better build a wall, then.

Jo · Apr 27, 2006

Some Australians (mainly teens) are beginning to skew the phrase to "could care less", perhaps after hearing it on American tv shows aired in Australia; e.g. Lost and House. Even "educated" characters, including an Aussie doctor (Dr Robert Chase, House -- played by Jesse Spencer), use it. Argh!

aruna · Apr 27, 2006

I hate this so much that if I DID have an American character using it in a novel I'd make sure there was an appropriate Reph to immediatelely correct him.

Maryn · Apr 28, 2006

Oh, what an intriguing thought, Aruna! Who's playing reph?

Maryn, eager to hear your casting thoughts

Jamesaritchie · Apr 28, 2006

Couldn't

Even in America, "couldn't care less" is correct. I would not say only the educated use it, I'd say only the illiterate do not.

writeorwrong · Apr 28, 2006

I could never understand how so many get this one wrong. When you think of the actual meaning of the words, the phrase "could care less" means the opposite of what it's intended to convey.

KAP · Apr 28, 2006

I never understood "could care less," either. It's used so often. I wonder if it's shortened from "I could care less, but I don't know how" or something like that. Who knows? I'd look up the origin, but I really...don't care all that much.

rekirts · Apr 28, 2006

Carmy said:
"Could care less" is creeping into Canada, too. Ugh!

Carmy

Creeping in? I'd say it's got a darn good foothold and it drives me nucking futs!

CaroGirl · Apr 28, 2006

Just plug your ears and hum loudly. That's what I do.

Sireen · Apr 28, 2006

If that wasn't bad enough. What about irregardless. It makes my skin crawl!

CaroGirl · Apr 28, 2006

Sireen said:
If that wasn't bad enough. What about irregardless. It makes my skin crawl!

Ack! What did you have to go and write that for?! You need to put a warning label on a post like that.

(can you tell I feel the same way about that word you mentioned that I refuse to say, let alone type)

Doctor Shifty · Apr 30, 2006

OK, I've decided!! Try to talk me out of it if you want to, but I'm going to do it anyway.

I'm on a forum based around the almost classic motorbike I ride, and most of the members are in the US. Many of them have an opinion on everything and that is where I am most likely to see "could care less".

So, I'll just ask them what they really think.

Kim

reph · Apr 30, 2006

Doctor Shifty said:
I'm on a forum based around the almost classic motorbike I ride, and most of the members are in the US....So, I'll just ask them what they really think.

Be sure to come back here afterward and ask us writers and editors about tuneups and helmet laws.

aruna · Apr 30, 2006

reph said:
Be sure to come back here afterward and ask us writers and editors about tuneups and helmet laws.

I was just going to start jumping up and down yelling "Reph made a typo!" but just to be certain I looked "afterwards" up in the dictionary. To my chagrin, it said (US: afterward). What a disappointment.

Bufty · Apr 30, 2006

'I could care less' fits sarcasm but used elsewhere it drives me bananas.

reph · Apr 30, 2006

aruna said:
I was just going to start jumping up and down yelling "Reph made a typo!"...

So my typo-free performance would justify celebratory gloating if I were to make one? Is that fair?

Could or couldn't care less

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