"I Couldn'T Care Less" Not "I Could Care Less"

[canard78]

I've bit my tongue long enough dear American cousins but enough is enough.

If you don't care in the slightest about something (eg someone's opinion) then you could NOT care less. In other words, you care so little about it that you are at the very lowest level of caring. It's not possible to care any less than you do.

If, as most seem to say here, you could care less then that means that first you DO care about the thing in question and the level of your caring is at a reasonable level that you've already identified the lower levels of caring that you could reach if you really wanted to.

For the sake of my teeth that keep grinding when I read it please put the 'not' or 'n't' in as needed.

Unfortunately I imagine the wonderful participants of this board couldn't care less about the state of my molars. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe they could care less or in other words do care and will therefore stop it

[The Nehor]

A great realization about linguistic pet peeves:

[3DOP]

I've bit my tongue long enough dear American cousins but enough is enough.

If you don't care in the slightest about something (eg someone's opinion) then you could NOT care less. In other words, you care so little about it that you are at the very lowest level of caring. It's not possible to care any less than you do.

If, as most seem to say here, you could care less then that means that first you DO care about the thing in question and the level of your caring is at a reasonable level that you've already identified the lower levels of caring that you could reach if you really wanted to.

For the sake of my teeth that keep grinding when I read it please put the 'not' or 'n't' in as needed.

Unfortunately I imagine the wonderful participants of this board couldn't care less about the state of my molars. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe they could care less or in other words do care and will therefore stop it

canard, sorry about your dental issues. What do you think about our use of apostrophe's?

[Kenngo1969]

Canard, I agree with you; but the reality of the situation is, people are simply going to go right on using the phrase, "I could care less" irregardless. (Sorry; couldn't resist! )

Edited June 19, 2013 by Kenngo1969

[volgadon]

I've bit my tongue long enough dear American cousins but enough is enough.

If you don't care in the slightest about something (eg someone's opinion) then you could NOT care less. In other words, you care so little about it that you are at the very lowest level of caring. It's not possible to care any less than you do.

If, as most seem to say here, you could care less then that means that first you DO care about the thing in question and the level of your caring is at a reasonable level that you've already identified the lower levels of caring that you could reach if you really wanted to.

For the sake of my teeth that keep grinding when I read it please put the 'not' or 'n't' in as needed.

Unfortunately I imagine the wonderful participants of this board couldn't care less about the state of my molars. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe they could care less or in other words do care and will therefore stop it

You are my hero! That Americanism bothers me almost as much as the use of "to not."

[Robert F. Smith]

You are my hero! That Americanism bothers me almost as much as the use of "to not."

Hey, Bro! Like I could care . . .

Whatever.

[blackstrap]

I could care less... but not much less !

[volgadon]

Hey, Bro! Like I could care . . .

Whatever.

I'm horribly old-fashioned in some ways, and believe in hanging by a comma.

[HairBear]

I've bit my tongue long enough dear American cousins but enough is enough.

If you don't care in the slightest about something (eg someone's opinion) then you could NOT care less. In other words, you care so little about it that you are at the very lowest level of caring. It's not possible to care any less than you do.

If, as most seem to say here, you could care less then that means that first you DO care about the thing in question and the level of your caring is at a reasonable level that you've already identified the lower levels of caring that you could reach if you really wanted to.

For the sake of my teeth that keep grinding when I read it please put the 'not' or 'n't' in as needed.

Unfortunately I imagine the wonderful participants of this board couldn't care less about the state of my molars. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe they could care less or in other words do care and will therefore stop it

Glad I'm not the only one it annoys

[DH]

I'm horribly old-fashioned in some ways, and believe in hanging by a comma.

Death by comma? Now that's a new one to me! Lol

Edited June 19, 2013 by DH

[Derl Sanderson]

I'm horribly old-fashioned in some ways, and believe in hanging by a comma.

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours?

Jill

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Jill

[volgadon]

Death by comma? Now that's a new one to me! Lol

Hanged on a comma is a saying which originated after the controversial execution of Roger Casement. Has to do with the problematic nature of some punctuation, and serves as justification for writing legal documents with minimal punctuation thus allowing greater room for interpretation.

Edited June 19, 2013 by volgadon

[Damien the Leper]

Hallelujah! This drives me crazy too!

Random person says: "I could care less."

I reply: "Could you? Could you care less?"

[Questing Beast]

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is all about. You are generous, kind, thoughtful. People who are not like you admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me for other men. I yearn for you. I have no feelings whatsoever when we're apart. I can be forever happy -- will you let me be yours?

Jill

Dear Jack,

I want a man who knows what love is. All about you are generous, kind, thoughtful people, who are not like you. Admit to being useless and inferior. You have ruined me. For other men I yearn! For you I have no feelings whatsoever. When we're apart I can be forever happy. Will you let me be?

Yours,

Jill

Delightful....

[cinepro]

You may be right Canard, but for all intensive purposes, they're the same.

[cinepro]

And for everyone's "enjoyment":

http://www.unnecessaryquotes.com/

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I've bit my tongue long enough dear American cousins but enough is enough.

If you don't care in the slightest about something (eg someone's opinion) then you could NOT care less. In other words, you care so little about it that you are at the very lowest level of caring. It's not possible to care any less than you do.

If, as most seem to say here, you could care less then that means that first you DO care about the thing in question and the level of your caring is at a reasonable level that you've already identified the lower levels of caring that you could reach if you really wanted to.

For the sake of my teeth that keep grinding when I read it please put the 'not' or 'n't' in as needed.

Unfortunately I imagine the wonderful participants of this board couldn't care less about the state of my molars. Or maybe I'm wrong, maybe they could care less or in other words do care and will therefore stop it

If it makes you feel better, I embarrass myself daily. I find it comforting that others do the same, or not do the same, I could care less, while others care less, or not care less, or feel they should care less, or feel they should care less, or,when I should care less or when they think I should care less...is this enough of caring less?

[canard78]

canard, sorry about your dental issues. What do you think about our use of apostrophe's?

You made me panic and rush back to check for any spurious apostrophe usage in the OP. I can forgive that in moderation as I still sometimes mix up: it's and its. I know the difference, I just sometimes forget to be mindful of it while typing.

In a previous job a colleague and I used to have a trivial hobby of counting the bad apostrophe usage in the weekly email from one of the building manager's. Its one thing to have the odd slip, but theres an amazing reverse skill to have the ability to unknowingly get it wrong both ways on almost all of one's uses of it. He would use apostrophe's when they were not needed and then miss them when they were. Hes a person with a unique skill (believe me, its really hard to do, even when youre consciously trying).

[Calm]

In a previous job a colleague and I used to have a trivial hobby of counting the bad apostrophe usage in the weekly email from one of the building manager's. Its one thing to have the odd slip, but theres an amazing reverse skill to have the ability to unknowingly get it wrong both ways on almost all of one's uses of it. He would use apostrophe's when they were not needed and then miss them when they were. Hes a person with a unique skill (believe me, its really hard to do, even when youre consciously trying).

[Stargazer]

For the sake of my teeth that keep grinding when I read it please put the 'not' or 'n't' in as needed.

Wait... ducks have teeth? OMG! Who knew?

Just kidding. The horrid "I could care less" thing has made ME grind my teeth before, too.

And yes, telescopes DO have teeth. Just don't ever tick one off. Fair warning.

[Stargazer]

Hanged on a comma is a saying which originated after the controversial execution of Roger Casement. Has to do with the problematic nature of some punctuation, and serves as justification for writing legal documents with minimal punctuation thus allowing greater room for interpretation.

Your post made me curious, so I looked up Sir Roger Casement on Wikipedia. It has this to say about the comma thing:

At Casement's highly publicised trial for treason, the prosecution had trouble arguing its case as Casement's crimes had been carried out in Germany and the medieval Treason Act 1351 seemed to apply only to activities carried out on English (or, arguably, British) soil. A close reading of the medieval Act allowed for a broader interpretation: the court decided that a comma should be read in the text, crucially widening the sense so that "in the realm or elsewhere" referred to where acts were done and not just to where the "King's enemies" may be. This led to the claim that Casement was "hanged on a comma".

[Bill “Papa” Lee]

I'm horribly old-fashioned in some ways, and believe in hanging by a comma.

And here I thought you liked me,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,