I couldn't care less.

The Raven.

The phrase 'I couldn't care less' has had currency in Ireland for as long as I can remember. It is meant to convey the meaning that one cares as little as one possibly can, with various degrees of defiance.

In more recent times, however, I notice that it is more often replaced with the phrase 'I could care less', which I gather is meant to convey the same meaning. This phrase doesn't make a lot of sense to me as it literally states the opposite.

Lately, I have seen someone writing 'I care less', obviously intending to mean the same. This makes even less sense.

Any views on this ??

seanybiker

I hate when people say 'i could care less' how can saying the opposite of the proper phrase mean the same thing grr.

amacachi

It's ridiculous. I can't believe people don't realise the implication of what they're saying.

FlutterinBantam

amacachi wrote: »

It's ridiculous. I can't believe people don't realise the implication of what they're saying.

Ama,I can fairly certainly assure you that the people who say that,are not in the least bit worried about the implication,grammar or context of anything they say.

Trust me on that one.:cool:

The Raven.

Thanks, everyone. It's good to hear other views. I have never heard anyone commenting on this one before !!

amacachi

FlutterinBantam wrote: »

Ama,I can fairly certainly assure you that the people who say that,are not in the least bit worried about the implication,grammar or context of anything they say.

Trust me on that one.:cool:

I dunno, I've heard people saying it who are the kind of people who try so hard to pronounce "th" correctly that their tongue touches their chin. :P Ironic that they try so hard with that but not with other things.

FlutterinBantam

amacachi wrote: »

I dunno, I've heard people saying it who are the kind of people who try so hard to pronounce "th" correctly that their tongue touches their chin. :P Ironic that they try so hard with that but not with other things.

Eamon Coughlan was it;)

Yakuza

The Raven. wrote: »

Any views on this ??

You're dead right, "I could care less" means nothing like what they think they are trying to convey.

ohthebaby

I have heard this several times too and it annoys me so much. I never thought anybody else noticed!

Cathy666

I've noticed a lot of people doing this too. It's very frustrating. I tried explaining the difference in what they were saying and what they were trying to say. To no avail though.

Karlusss

Makes no sense to me either. Have also heard "could give less of a", etc.

Baffling.

pierrot

I could care less, because i didn't do nothing!

The Raven.

pierrot wrote: »

I could care less, because i didn't do nothing!

That's not true, I don't think !!

Absolam

It could be taken to mean " I could care less, but that would mean bothering to consider my caring, which is even more effort than this merits", which is a step further than " I couldn't care less", implying I have considered how much I care.

Lobelia Overhill

If someone says "i could care less" to me, I ask them "how?"

Danny-B

Yea, this gets on my nerves too.
However, when someone says it to me, or if I were to say it, it would be followed by the implicit, un-spoken addendum 'but it would be hard...!'
As in: "I could care less, but it would be hard!"

For us sensible people, just stick to "I couldn't care less!"

dreamlogic

Has this been happening for long or is it a relatively recent development here? I have always heard it used in the correct way in this country(even by people who would not be sticklers for grammar or even aware of how they are saying something).

The first time I remember encountering the 'I could' version was a couple of years ago on some American's myspace profile.
So does this come from America..?

Absolam wrote: »

It could be taken to mean " I could care less, but that would mean bothering to consider my caring, which is even more effort than this merits", which is a step further than " I couldn't care less", implying I have considered how much I care.

Ha yeah I went through this type of reasoning as well trying to understand why an otherwise intelligent person would even say this! Head-melting stuff

The Raven.

dreamlogic wrote: »

The first time I remember encountering the 'I could' version was a couple of years ago on some American's myspace profile.
So does this come from America..?

I often wondered about that too. The first time I heard the 'I could' version was from an English woman who had lived for a while in America. I tried to explain it to her, but she couldn't care less !!

emeraldstar

dreamlogic wrote: »

The first time I remember encountering the 'I could' version was a couple of years ago on some American's myspace profile.
So does this come from America..?

Yeah, I think the origin is mostly American, I commonly hear it on American TV shows. I reckon that's how it's recently become widespread here. Makes me want to hit the person using it, to be honest.

(Those damn Yanks are to blame for everything )

MathsManiac

Hmmm. It's odd alright.

Suppose you inflected it like a question:

I could care less?

pickarooney

There's a 'like' missing. In the American form of the expression it's meant to be uttered sarcastically: "Like I could care less what your mother thinks."

The Australian variant "I don't care less" is just unfathomable, however.