Ok Let's Settle This

[Guest Prosis]

Is it "I couldn't care less" or "I could care less"?

[bishopx]

It's "I could care less"

[Guest Prosis]

But that doesn't make any sense does it? Isn't "My level of care is so low that it couldn't be lower"?

[soundless_space]

People will still use both and everyone will still know what they mean, so I don't think it matters.

 

But I'd love to know what the gramatically correct phrase is.

[bishopx]

It would equate to, I don't give a fuck, I don't give a shit, I could give two flying fucks about it, in ad finitum.

[Some Random]

it's "i couldn't care less", if you want to make sense. it indicates that your level of caring about whatever subject is as low as it possibly could be. saying "i could care less" could me that you care alot about whatever subject, making it an ambiguous statement.

[ecnarf]

I remember once my grade six teacher yelling at us (as she was wont to do) about "In high school your english teacher COULD CARE LESS about your french teacher COULD CARE LESS about your geography teacher COULD CARE LESS about [ad infinitum]".

 

god what a fat bitch.

[Guest Prosis]

Wow she was...

 

But that doesn't settle it although your argument does have more weight ;)

[ecnarf]

It has to be "couldn't care less". "Could care less" sounds better but ultimately makes no sense.

[Guest Prosis]

Exactly my point...

 

Matt said "could care less" in his question answering video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dusdRHgqsW4)

 

Come on, someone must have a grammar book or something that has the answer

[Some Random]

it's "i couldn't care less", if you want to make sense. it indicates that your level of caring about whatever subject is as low as it possibly could be. saying "i could care less" could me that you care alot about whatever subject, making it an ambiguous statement.

did i not make sense?

[hum-an-ole]

I never noticed that there actually were people saying "I could care less"... I think Chris explains it quite well above. "I couldn't care less" is without a doubt in my mind, the correct phrasing if you're trying to express disinterest. All you have to do is put all the meanings of those words together like you would in any other sentence to figure it out...lol

 

I haven't you seen in a while Daniel, how's it going? ;)

[Guest Prosis]

But that doesn't make any sense does it? Isn't "My level of care is so low that it couldn't be lower"?

I'm quoting myself because I want to state for the record that I said what Chris said first ;)

 

I'm doing quite well Christine thank you (except for my lame ass job :angry:), and you feeling better?

[Shiri]

I'm no native English speaker or anything but "I could care less" doesn't make any sense to me so it must be "I couldn't care less" and Chris' explanation definitely makes sense.

[saturnine]

if you "could care less," you are saying that you give importance to the subject. if you give no importance to a subject, you "could not care less."

 

In this case an expression which originally meant

Edited February 2, 2007 by saturnine

[Sparq]

Both work. You either imply that you care as little as possible already, or that they are lucky you care even as much as you do. It's almost a threat.

[soundless_space]

Okay. Then "couldn't care less" it is.

[saturnine]

Both work. You either imply that you care as little as possible already, or that they are lucky you care even as much as you do. It's almost a threat.

but caring less doesn't tell a person how much or how little you care.

 

i could love my mother less.. but that's easy. i could love cricket less... which is hard because i care very little already.

 

it just doesn't make any sense to leave it so open-ended when the proper usage makes it perfectly clear.

[Sparq]

Yeah. But it's not all in what you say. You need to say "I could care less" with the sort of hostile tone that implies you already don't care much, and if they don't stop talking about it you will be forced to care even less.

Edited February 2, 2007 by Sparq

[Some Random]

i think "i could care less" works because people understand that, although the surface meaning is ambiguous, the implied/deeper meaning is that of "i couldn't care less". it's like double negatives. they are incorrect (in english) on the surface, but everyone understands that when someone uses double negatives, they don't actually mean a positive.

[saturnine]

hey, let's pander to the ignorant. awesome.

 

what are we, americans?

Edited February 2, 2007 by saturnine

[Sparq]

Pander? One should be so lucky if they do not understand the true meaning. Knowledge is power, as they say. Personally I find some entertainment in withholding information.

[saturnine]

then you should hang out with W.

[Sparq]

Yeah, I dunno what that means.

[saturnine]

lil georgey bush