The great 'could care less'/ 'couldn't care less' debate, who's right?

Both are right. Maybe there is a situation where you "could care less", in other words a situation that is not important but not utterly the most unimportant.

Then there is "could not care less" where you are expressing the situation or idea is the absolute least important thing to a person.

There is no debate. It is "I couldn't care less". What's the point of even telling someone "I could care less"? That means you care! 99% of the time people say that when they mean they could not care less.

The big question is can you cook a hotdog by putting it under hot water in the sink

I could not care less about this debate.

Vs.

I could care less about this debate.

It's all about how much you care.

Correct. If you are at the lowest level of caring about something, you could only care more about it. So if someone is too dumb to know that they should state that they couldn’t care less about the topic, they at least could state that they could care more. That is a closer equivalent than the idiotic, “I could care less”, which could mean that you are at the pinnacle of caring about the topic.

Takinadump wrote:

There is no debate. It is "I couldn't care less". What's the point of even telling someone "I could care less"? That means you care! 99% of the time people say that when they mean they could not care less.

+1, using the phrase "I could care less" and actually meaning it is beyond stupid.

Sand Dunes wrote:

I could not care less about this debate.

Vs.

I could care less about this debate.

It's all about how much you care.

While the terms are often used incorrectly, this is the broadest and best answer to the debate.

if you don't care, then saying either one of these instead of saying "i don't care" is stupid. if you don't care, then you wouldn't be inventing wordy ways of saying so.

"i couldn't care less" can't mean anything other than "i don't care" so it is always a stupid thing to say.

it's like when someone does something trashy and someone criticizes them by sarcastically saying that was "real classy". is paying attention to a trashy person's trashy behavior and using sarcasm to insult them a classy thing to do? no. so people who do this sarcastic "real classy" thing are themselves behaving without class.

so if you don't care about something, don't feel the need to say so. if it's expedient to declare it, then do so succinctly. using a wordy communication style to express your lack of care is inconsistent

anyway, the fact is that most of the time, someone does care a little. "i don't care" is usually hyperbole. so this whole argument people like to make about "if you could care less, then that means you care a little" -- well, yes. that is almost always the case. this isn't an interesting argument. people making this argument would be better off pestering people who say "i don't care" after they've already said or done something that demonstrates they care at least the tiniest bit

another fact of the situation is that idioms don't follow logic. there are plenty of illogical idioms. so this whole routine of people criticizing anyone saying "i could care less" by explaining to them how it's illogical is just faux-intellectual BS. there are other illogical idioms that you could use that wouldn't trigger them. and the notion of arguing against all illogical idioms is ridiculous as well. so what are they doing? it's pointless and stupid.

so the only thing left to say is that it's possible to use "i could care less" to express something other than "i don't care". you can use it to threaten to care less, for example. but it's a conversation-stopper because of how many idiots it'll trigger into saying "you mean you COULDNT care less" so it's not worth using

both phrases should be avoided

I don't give a fukk works better.

Oh Please wrote:

Both are right. Maybe there is a situation where you "could care less", in other words a situation that is not important but not utterly the most unimportant.

Then there is "could not care less" where you are expressing the situation or idea is the absolute least important thing to a person.

You’re an idiot

Sand Dunes wrote:

I could not care less about this debate.

Vs.

I could care less about this debate.

It's all about how much you care.

So why is it that people on this board who make it quite clear in many ways, leaving no doubt in the readers mind that they don't care or give a rats arse about something, then include in their post that "they could care less", is it just another example of the bastardisation of the English language by Americans?

Grammar twat wrote:

Oh Please wrote:

Both are right. Maybe there is a situation where you "could care less", in other words a situation that is not important but not utterly the most unimportant.

Then there is "could not care less" where you are expressing the situation or idea is the absolute least important thing to a person.

You’re an idiot

Maybe "could care less, but don't" should be used, which could mean both "you couldn't care less" and "could care less", but don't "couldn't care less" or "could care less" because you don't care?

The use of 'could': "I could care less, but it's not worth my time."

The use of 'couldn't': "I couldn't care less. No really, I do not care at all."

---

Both of these are hypothetical quotes, but should make the subject point. The latter is often misused, and is likely most often the point attempting to be made.

redundant point maker wrote:

The use of 'couldn't': "I couldn't care less. No really, I do not care at all."

That should be:

"No really, I do not care at all because I couldn't care less."

It's all about the double negative making it a positive phrase

I could care less, but I don’t care to.

I could care more about this whole debate but, of course, I don't.

Maybe we should all take some time out of our day to tell someone we do care about them. It would really change the world

"I couldn't care less" is not an idiom. You have no idea what you're talking about, and for someone who supposedly values succinct speech, you sure are long-winded.