Max sez, in another thread, "I thought it almost made even less sense than that other US mutation, 'I could care less'."
He's right, of course. This has to be one of the dumbest and most illogical of expressions. How did this happen? Maybe Fong has a "slide toward stupidity" theory to explain this one.
this has, of course, come up here before, and has been used by some our of very finest US'n posters; and yes, it was Faldo who forgave them all by passing it off as being "irony."
rodward: I could care less
another ukage/usage. In UK we say "I couldn't care less" which seems more logical to me.
Rod
Faldage:
rodward comments: "I couldn't care less" which seems more logical to me.
That's cuz y'all don't understand irony.
edit: this goes waaaaay back to the Isn't it ironic? thread, so perhaps Faldo was just being ironic.
It's just another example of the value of clichés. We know what we mean when we say it and we know what the speaker meant when we hear it. We don' need no steenkin' logic.
We don' need no steenkin' logic - In my view, logic is a bit like magic - even if you don't believe in it, it works.
Quote:
We don' need no steenkin' logic - In my view, logic is a bit like magic - even if you don't believe in it, it works.
And the magic of an expression like 'I could care less' is that it isn't logical and it also works. Whether you believe it or not.
(context and speaker are important)
logic
Might be why grammar and rhetoric were taught along with logic in the trivium.
And my favorite "It fell between the cracks." Meaning of course that something fell Through the cracks ie was missed. I don't think it's irony unless irony can be accidental.
Quote:
And my favorite "It fell between the cracks." Meaning of course that something fell Through the cracks ie was missed. I don't think it's irony unless irony can be accidental.
Could it be poetic hyperbole?
Quote:
"It fell between the cracks."
¡¿Hwæt?! Guy A makes a wise crack. Guy B says something sensible and to the point. Guy C makes another wise crack. Guys A and C wonder what Guy B is getting on about. Guy B's comment fell between the cracks. So what's the problem?
Quote:
Quote:
We don' need no steenkin' logic - In my view, logic is a bit like magic - even if you don't believe in it, it works.
And the magic of an expression like 'I could care less' is that it isn't logical and it also works. Whether you believe it or not.
(context and speaker are important)
To "context and speaker" I would add "hearer" - to my ears it does NOT work, at all. It makes me think of things which matter a great deal, things about which I could indeed care less. I could care less about breathing, eating, or whether my student passes her state registration exams for nursing. I could, but I won't.
Quote:
Quote:
Quote:
We don' need no steenkin' logic - In my view, logic is a bit like magic - even if you don't believe in it, it works.
And the magic of an expression like 'I could care less' is that it isn't logical and it also works. Whether you believe it or not.
(context and speaker are important)
To "context and speaker" I would add "hearer" - to my ears it does NOT work, at all. It makes me think of things which matter a great deal, things about which I could indeed care less. I could care less about breathing, eating, or whether my student passes her state registration exams for nursing. I could, but I won't.
Works for me, your addendum.
Every month or so I read in the newspaper that "the bullet ended up between the wall." And I immediately fire off an email to the reporter to ask him or her to complete thes sentence. Between the wall and WHAT, fer Chrissake?
Works for me, your addendum.
Dear Peter ~
You don't have to address Max as "Your Addendum." He has renounced all titles and just goes by Max.
I agree with you, but unfortunately, most people who use "I could care less" are thinking "I couldn't..." Think about someone who just slammed you: "I couldn't care less about what you say" could be said coldly, calmly, or in anger.
In a different situation, using the ironical "I could care less" and intending it as irony, would only say it calmly - not in an angry demeanor - so as to give it the colder feeling intended = perhaps even sneer or smirk a little while saying it, thereby possibly angering the recipient - a manipulative play.
There are five other black butterflies?
Quote:
Works for me, your addendum.
Dear Peter ~
You don't have to address Max as "Your Addendum." He has renounced all titles and just goes by Max.
No Peter here; you talkin' to me?
Now, were you, in some alternate universe, to turn it, how would you punctuate the offending phrase? "Works for me your addendum," don't cut the mustard. Though, it does make my neglect apparently glaring. For, Your Honor, I did not capitalize "Your Addendum," as was not my wont. Still, Max likes titles. I know this from personal experience. And, since he is not one of US, and since you choose to think I've bestowed a title on him, I think we should let him have it, if have it he will.
edited without offense to the meaning of Max's replying post intended.
Quote:
Still, Max likes titles. I know this from personal experience.
My titular phase has passed, after prolonged discontent among THE hoi polloi. Try it out and see.
I noticed that, but I thought it must be a grudg'ed crumb.
Honestly I think it is verbal laziness that makes people drop the n't from the expression.
prolonged discontent among THE hoi polloi
You do these things just to provoke me, right?
You can't say "I couldn't care less" with the right feeling. The "n't" just mucks up the rhythm and tone.
Quote:
There are five other black butterflies?
To be sure...thousands...lucky to get number six!
Or, as my mother used to tell me, "S.Q." which I thought was a French word, marking my first interest in my eventual major. Turns out it was "Silly Question."
Quote:
You can't say "I couldn't care less" with the right feeling. The "n't" just mucks up the rhythm and tone.
Perhaps you could separate the contraction for more emphasis on the "not" and tilt your head just so during its utterance. 
just don't ask Yoda to say it...
Imagine Alice's waterpipe-smoking caterpillar...
Quote:
just don't ask Yoda to say it...
Rang you me? [tilt]
Quote:
Perhaps you could separate the contraction for more emphasis on the "not" and tilt your head just so during its utterance.
It's still way more limited in its possibilities.