Why do people say "I COULD care less" when they mean they DO NOT care?

[alexg]

If you say, you COULD care less, it means that you DO care some...

when you want to say you DON'T CARE about something, you should say I COULD NOT care less...

let's say we measure our level of CARE on a scale from 0 to 100.
If you don't care about something, your care level is 0, so you COULD NOT care any less!

If you say you COULD care less, then you obviously CARE...

[escorpio]

I don't know why people do that but it fucking pisses me off.

[Harmon]

Why do they call when two planes almost hit a NEAR MISS? Wouldn't it be a NEAR HIT?

I'm waaaaaaaaaay too high to listent to this hebrew gobbledee gook

[alexg]

Why do they call when two planes almost hit a NEAR MISS? Wouldn't it be a NEAR HIT?

I'm waaaaaaaaaay too high to listent to this hebrew gobbledee gook

[BobG]

I've also pondered this on many a thc induced semi-coma. Please let me know what you find out.

[Phoenix]

hehe..good one..i wonder that myself sometimes

[jjjay]

because americans can't speak english proper

it's "addictive" not "addicting" you mongoloids

[Kinky John]

its a yank thang i think . . never understood it . . we say "couldn't" not "could"

[alexg]

because americans can't speak english properly

[volante]

because americans can't speak english proper

it's "addictive" not "addicting" you mongoloids

[sniperwolf]

If you say you COULD care less, then you obviously CARE...

my thoughts exactly

[bhutocracy]

It's come up before... it looks ignorant when written and it's fairly annoying.. but it's come into common american usage for whatever stupid reason so it's not going away no matter how ridiculous it is.

[mikeyddddd]

Google is your friend.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q...=Google+Search

http://www.wsu.edu/~brians/errors/care.html

http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/inde...?date=19960610

[Nookster]

People have missused that for years...pisses me off too. It started as "I couldn't care less..." meaning you don't care at all because it's at the lowest level of caring...hell I dunno heh.

[je_rome]

thanks for the lecture. i hope this thread instilled some grammar awareness in us.

[chodadog]

It's pretty common down here in Australia too. Annoys me.

[SomeCreep]

If you say, you COULD care less, it means that you DO care some...

when you want to say you DON'T CARE about something, you should say I COULD NOT care less...

let's say we measure our level of CARE on a scale from 0 to 100.
If you don't care about something, your care level is 0, so you COULD NOT care any less!

If you say you COULD care less, then you obviously CARE...

I could care less whether someone says they care less or could not care less, because either way I know what they meant.

[Kristian]

Depending on whether it's written or spoken, it's intended to be sarcastic or ironic.

[dissipate]

I noticed this a few minutes ago when a speedskater who didnt want to do the team pursuit event used that phrase in describing what he cared of what others thought of him

[sumphatpimp]

if he could care less, why did he reply to the thread in the first place?
sometimes I believe what is perceived as post bots are actually real people.
sober too.

[bdld]

the vast majority of people are just stupid.

[PixeLs]

the vast majority of people are just stupid.

Fuck, I don't even care at all!

[mastermikex]

What pisses me off is when people write something like "I should of done this"...Should of? WTF is that? It's "should HAVE", dumbasses!

[aico]

It's very simple, when someone says to you "I could care less" it means that they could care less then they do now, but that would require too much energy, and they they don't care enough to put the effort into caring less then they already care, so they are just letting you know that they could care less, but they won't because they don't care enough to.

[reed_4]

If you really can't say those words, just show this one.

[drama]

I do believe its "I Couldn't care less" which means you already care so little if any that you couldnt possibly care any less than you already do.

[Tipsy]

I do believe its "I Couldn't care less" which means you already care so little if any that you couldnt possibly care any less than you already do.

Myself and everybody I know have only ever said "couldn't" when using that phrase. Hmmmm...but then none of us are American either. A large chunk of the English dictionary was butchered (despite still calling it 'English') so why worry about a single phrase? ;)

[Paul Waters]

irregardless

[chadglni]

What pisses me off is when people write something like "I should of done this"...Should of? WTF is that? It's "should HAVE", dumbasses!

I do believe they are saying should've not should of.

[Scotty.T]

Like everything else. Language evolves. I don't think it is a bad thing. English spoken now is vastly different from the turn of the last century.