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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Not sure if I've ever heard 'I could care less' here.Yep, I think this is definitely Advanced Pondspeak, probably of the LA variant  It surely goes (as a darkly ironic exclamation) with the teen language formations such as "Like, REALLY.." and similar. But what are we to make of "Go figure"? 
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Joined: Apr 2000
Posts: 10,542
Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
Joined: Apr 2000
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this is one that gets much play in U.S. discussion groups; here is what the alt.eng.usage FAQ has to say:
"could care less". The idiom "couldn't care less", meaning "doesn't care at all" (the meaning in full is "cares so little that he couldn't possibly care less"), originated in Britain around 1940. "Could care less", which is used with the same meaning, developed in the U.S. around 1960. We get disputes about whether the latter was originally a mis-hearing of the former; whether it was originally ironic; or whether it arose from uses where the negative element was separated from "could" ("None of these writers could care less . . .") Henry Churchyard believes that this sentence by Jane Austen may be pertinent: "You know nothing and you care less, as people say." (Mansfield Park (1815), Chapter 29) Meaning-saving elaborations have also been suggested; e.g., "As if I could care less!"; "I could care less, but I'd have to try"; "If I cared even one iota -- which I don't --, then I could care less."
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Joined: Apr 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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as to "go figure", we really need a valley-speak expert; but I found the following at an American slang for Aussies web site (go figure):
go figure v. Go and think about the illogicality or contradictions in what I just said, because I cannot
understand it (e.g., ``The government said it would promote free trade by increasing tariffs on imported
goods. Go figure.'').
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Joined: Sep 2000
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Carpal Tunnel
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Carpal Tunnel
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Yes, and it is usually said with a slight shrug of the shoulders and a bemused look on one's face.
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