The phrase, "I could care less" is meaningless and should die. Why do I keep hearing people say it?
PS, I’m with you on this ..other than the strong condemnation. I use it as an intelligence filtering device, if they leave out the ‘nt … they silently lose, in my book. They use it right, which is increasingly rare - serious points ...not quite ‘atheist points,’ but getting there.. It’s a lazy copycat culture, if culture at all
"I could care less" means that one cares at least a certain amount, as there exists a level of care below that which one possesses. "I couldn't care less" means that there is no level of care below that one possesses and that therefore one's care is at the minimum possible level. Both make sense. One expresses an absence of care and the other expresses an unquantified but definite amount. Americans simply say the wrong one sometimes when they wish to express total indifference. Brits never do.
For the same reason they use "irregardless".
There are two such meaningless phrases, which, of all the Americanisms that have crept into British English, I cannot bear.
The subject of this post is one; it’s meaningless in the context in which it’s used. And it’s not new - it was well established when I was at High School in MA in the 1960s.
The other, and the worst, is ‘can I get xxxxx?’. No, you can’t. The person serving you will get it for you - by all means, you can then have it, and can then tell people that you got it. No shop, restaurant, whatever, in which you have to ask for what you want is going to let you help yourself to it, so why ask if you can? This was also well established in the 1960s
Grrrrrrrrrrrr!!!
The restaurant I was in Sunday let me help myself to the coke ?
I wish I didn't find these things so grating. I don't let them affect my mood, but I can't help noticing them and having them linger, for a moment, as a mild irritation.
One that really makes me want to pummel someone with a water balloon, is "no worries."
"Thank you."
"No worries."
AaaaaaaaH!!!!! *Running toward chocolate...
I have no control of my reaction to words being used in this nonsensical way. If I did, I would probably be 1% happier.
Now we have the new fun one "I could of"
I couldn't care less whether or not this phrase lives or dies, we all know what the expression means so let's move on to more pressing matters.