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Explain to me "I could care less"

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Dali said:
caring.png
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thank you. I've been looking for this pic.
Clichés are especially prone to scrambling because they become meaningless through overuse. In this case an expression which originally meant “it would be impossible for me to care less than I do because I do not care at all” is rendered senseless by being transformed into the now-common “I could care less.” Think about it: if you could care less, that means you care some. The original already drips sarcasm, so it’s pointless to argue that the newer version is “ironic.” People who misuse this phrase are just being careless.
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http://wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html
ChunderMan said:
But irregardless is at least an actual word with the same meaning as regardless. It's just not used.
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actually, since it was only added to the dictionary fairly recently I don't think so. it's one of those words that was added because of popular usage, not because it was right.

I'm late to most of these, I see. oh well. here's another contribution:

525wwe9.gif


Mama Smurf said:
At least you didn't tell me you enjoy arguing schematics, as someone here once said to me.
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:lol
 
All right, kids, here's another lesson:


There's no such thing as a "sneak peak". Just because the words share the same last three letters, that doesn't make it correct. Use "sneak peek" instead- you'll be golden.
 
adg1034 said:
All right, kids, here's another lesson:


There's no such thing as a "sneak peak". Just because the words share the same last three letters, that doesn't make it correct. Use "sneak peek" instead- you'll be golden.
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Countless Viagra commercials disagree.
 
Too hard to read this thread from beginning to end, but "I could care less" is a perfectly usable snide phrase. To make sure the meaning gets across, I usually say this: I could care less, but not much.
 
sonarrat said:
Too hard to read this thread from beginning to end, but "I could care less" is a perfectly usable snide phrase. To make sure the meaning gets across, I usually say this: I could care less, but not much.
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It's possible to use it in a way that makes sense, but people don't do it.
 
temp said:
It's possible to use it in a way that makes sense, but people don't do it.
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It does make sense by the way of what's implied (that they don't care very much). And the way people generally use it matches that implication, whether they're aware of it or not.
 
like I quoted:
Clichés are especially prone to scrambling because they become meaningless through overuse. In this case an expression which originally meant “it would be impossible for me to care less than I do because I do not care at all” is rendered senseless by being transformed into the now-common “I could care less.” Think about it: if you could care less, that means you care some. The original already drips sarcasm, so it’s pointless to argue that the newer version is “ironic.” People who misuse this phrase are just being careless.
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it's sarcastic enough as is. How sarcastic are you that you have to add more?
 
sonarrat said:
It does make sense by the way of what's implied (that they don't care very much). And the way people generally use it matches that implication, whether they're aware of it or not.
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For it to make sense you'd have to emphasize the "could", which people don't, no.
 
temp said:
For it to make sense you'd have to emphasize the "could", which people don't, no.
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That is true, I admit. The tone most people use when saying it makes it sound like they mean "I don't care," which makes it a self-contradicting idiom. I say it correctly, so it is correct when I say it.
 
sonarrat said:
That is true, I admit. The tone most people use when saying it makes it sound like they mean "I don't care," which makes it a self-contradicting idiom. I say it correctly, so it is correct when I say it.
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I don't doubt it, man!
 
Damnit! I've always hated the word "normalcy." But I looked it up (couldn't remember which president coined it) and it's a word!
"A return to normalcy" was U.S. Presidential candidate Warren Harding’s campaign promise in the election of 1920. Although many of Harding's detractors believed that the word was a neologism as well as a malapropism coined by Harding (as opposed to the more usual term "normality"), there was contemporary discussion and evidence found that normalcy was listed in dictionaries as far back as 1857.[1][2] Furthermore, the concept apparently encapsulated what Americans wanted, since he was elected president over his Democratic opponent James Cox.

Normalcy has been defined by a historian (P. Massie) as "The good old days that never were."
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I have noticed that the words lit, pled and hung have been replaced by lighted, pleaded and hanged. Were they always incorrect?
 
adamsappel said:
Damnit! I've always hated the word "normalcy." But I looked it up (couldn't remember which president coined it) and it's a word!

I have noticed that the words lit, pled and hung have been replaced by lighted, pleaded and hanged. Were they always incorrect?
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I think they are all still words, except you mispelled plead. It all depends on the usage which word you use. Like you would say hung if you were talking about a coat, but hanged is the past tense of killing a person.
 
NekoFever said:
I've probably posted this real-life exchange before, but what the hey:

Friend: Did you see that thing on TV last night? I literally pissed myself laughing.
Me: You actually wet yourself?
Friend: No, no. I literally pissed myself.
*gunshot*

He looked at me like I was retarded when I asked him that. He added the emphasis when he repeated it like English was my second language or something. That still annoys me slightly less than "could care less", though.
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Isn't the use of "literally" in this case used as a form of exaggeration/expression, not necessarily a statement of fact?

Because...

weepy said:
Hmm...I figuratively laughed my ass off! Eeh...don't sound right.
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Exactly.
 
"I laughed my arse off. Figuratively speaking (of course)."
or
"Figuratively speaking I laughed my arse off."

Makes perfect sense.

It doesn't make sense because you've been conditioned to 'literally' being the correct term; just like to many of us literally makes absolutely no sense and sounds wrong.


I personally can't stand the word 'ain't'.
 
well isn't it correct when somebody says "like, I could care (any) less!"
 
KingGondo said:
I have a friend who always says, "I hate it when people mispronounciate!"

Still haven't corrected him :lol
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:lol

Reading this reminds me of when this not too hot girl asked me how she looked and I said "You look eloquent." Me and her friend had a good chuckle because she didn't realize what I was saying.
 
sonarrat said:
No, because "like" is an expletive and not a functional word in that context. :D
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how so? It could very well be functional in that sentence
 
I know its been covered in the thread, but the incorrect use of "literally" always cracks me up.

Caught this gem on the news once:
"We are all literally over the moon down here at the studio."
 
Zensetsu said:
I know its been covered in the thread, but the incorrect use of "literally" always cracks me up.

Caught this gem on the news once:
"We are all literally over the moon down here at the studio."
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Depends on your perspective I guess.
 
I could care less and post using 'your/you're' and 'there/their/they're' the wrong way, but I care just enough not to do so.

For now.
 
temp said:
You've never heard someone say "butt naked"? That's pretty amazing.
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I've heard them say it but I always thought they were wrong. I don't think "butt naked" is officially the new "buck naked" because it's still wrong.
 
SapientWolf said:
I wonder how buck naked got turned into butt naked.
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already posted:
NekoFever said:
The fact that phrases like "for all intensive purposes" are permeating the language is proof that people aren't reading enough. When people pick up all their vocabulary from speech they learn parrot-fashion and mistakes like that creep in until most people start using them. Then you get looked at like a moron for actually using phrases that make sense.
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very good post. learn it, love it, live it.
7xd3the.gif
 
Juice said:
I've heard the sarcasm explanation at least half a dozen times over the years. It's logically consistent, but the tone with which people use the expression is not consistent with the theory.
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Think of it as an abbreviated form of the sentiment "I could care less, but that would require effort, so its not worth my time to expend that effort as this is such an unimportant and trivial concern from my perspective."

If it's consistent in my head, fuck all on the rest.
 
Rentahamster said:
I've heard them say it but I always thought they were wrong. I don't think "butt naked" is officially the new "buck naked" because it's still wrong.
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He just meant that people started saying it, not that it has supplanted "buck naked". Although getting butt naked is clearly superior to getting buck naked.
 
When I always heard the phrase "I could care less", I always took it to be hyperbolic. Quite obviously, you DON'T care, and by saying that you could care less, you're caring less than you do when you don't care at all. In other words, you're caring level is negative.

Soooo....

"I couldn't care less." = 0

"I could care less" = -100..or however lesser you could care. :)

Therefore, the second phrase is more effective :)
 
worldrunover said:
Where I'm from they're pronounced exactly the same.
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Then you and your people are doing it wrong.

Or your native tongue prevents you from detecting the subtle difference in pronounciation between the two words.

Either way, there is definately a distinct difference in pronounciation between the two. Just watch some hollywood movies and you just might pick up on it.
 
MIMIC said:
When I always heard the phrase "I could care less", I always took it to be hyperbolic. Quite obviously, you DON'T care, and by saying that you could care less, you're caring less than you do when you don't care at all. In other words, you're caring level is negative.

Soooo....

"I couldn't care less." = 0

"I could care less" = -100..or however lesser you could care. :)

Therefore, the second phrase is more effective :)
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So because you COULD care less then you care less than if you COULDN'T care less?
 
MIMIC said:
When I always heard the phrase "I could care less", I always took it to be hyperbolic. Quite obviously, you DON'T care, and by saying that you could care less, you're caring less than you do when you don't care at all. In other words, you're caring level is negative.

Soooo....

"I couldn't care less." = 0

"I could care less" = Some arbitrary value greater than zero
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Listen to temp. Your equations (and reasoning) are all wrong. I fixed it for you.
 
MIMIC said:
When I always heard the phrase "I could care less", I always took it to be hyperbolic. Quite obviously, you DON'T care, and by saying that you could care less, you're caring less than you do when you don't care at all. In other words, you're caring level is negative.

Soooo....

"I couldn't care less." = 0

"I could care less" = -100..or however lesser you could care. :)

Therefore, the second phrase is more effective :)
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No! No! No!

Why are people making excuses for this illogical phrase?

I always took it as the person saying it as being an idiot. It broke my heart when Elaine said it in Seinfeld :(
 
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