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

It's one the shining examples of why the majority of the English speaking world think the Americans are limited on the brain cell count.

'I could care less' is the exact opposite of what you are trying to convey - that you do not care about something. It is baffling.

visible confusion wrote:

"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.

I said that "I could care less" is an idiom, which is true. And I said that people who dont care about something should be succinct, not everyone.

Please everyone just watch this so we can all go home.

Dr. Van Nostrand wrote:

https://youtu.be/om7O0MFkmpw

Please everyone just watch this so we can all go home.

Ohhh, this is great. The “Hold down the fort while I tickle it,” bit toward the end had me laughing out loud.

i think that if you really think about it you could always care less. so "could care less" is right

Next up: the great “then” vs “than” debate.

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.

Yep.

Such an easy and obvious answer that it only took 2 replies to get there.

Couldn’t care more wrote:

Next up: the great “then” vs “than” debate.

That’s not a debate. That’s the grammatical stamp of having slept through junior high English or not.

This thread is a perfect segue into people who say "I am out of pocket" when they are not reachable (on a flight or something).

The whole could/couldn't care less thing is just common mistake (it's "couldn't") in repeating a common phrase. The 'out of pocket' thing suggests an overall confusion of the workings of the universe. If I hear someone in a business meeting say "I'm going to be out of pocket" I immediately think "Oh crap, we have to check every calculation from this guy - he's dumb as a sack of hammers." God help us if he had to calculate a percentage of a percentage. This is the guy who tells you that water freezes faster if you put hot water in your ice cube trays.

Bad Wigins wrote:

"Could care less" is the opposite of false double negatives, like "I don't care about nothing," where nobody constructs the meaning directly out of the syntax, but English speakers try to shy away from them or they seem uneducated.

"Less" seems like a negative, so pairing it with "couldn't" seems like a double negative, so they switch it to a single negative. Out of habit, they don't construct the meaning out of the syntax; the meaning is contained in the phrase "care less," a vague emotional conveyance of their low level of caring.

People use language differently, and this expression is common enough that it will never end. What could be ended however is the rubes who pointlessly say "have a nice rest of your day."

"Could care less" does not establish a minimum level of carrying—people (grammarians) imply that it does. "Could care are less" than what? "Couldn't care less" sets a bottom for the level of carrying. You cannot go any lower.

"I could care less" isn't an idiom either. Quit while you're behind.

These phrases are so commonly misused that they’re best avoided. Or say, I could care less, but I’m not sure how! Use the cliche to your advantage.

nadir wrote:

"Could care less" does not establish a minimum level of carrying—people (grammarians) imply that it does. "Could care are less" than what? "Couldn't care less" sets a bottom for the level of carrying. You cannot go any lower.

glass house dweller, lay down those rocks

they're not trying to establish a minimum. All they really mean is "less," i.e. their level of caring is low. There ain't no more to it than that.

Could not care less--indicates that no matter how hard I tried I could care any less. I have reached 0 on the caring scale (and it does not go into negatives).

Could care less---If I gave it effort I could go from a caring of 3 to a caring of 2.

Now there are somethings that I have not given a lot of thought to so I could care less if I cared at all.

The first is really the correct one.

Luv2Run wrote:

Could not care less--indicates that no matter how hard I tried I could care any less.

The first is really the correct one.

No it's not, WTF does "I could care any less" mean.

Bad Wigins wrote:

nadir wrote:

"Could care less" does not establish a minimum level of carrying—people (grammarians) imply that it does. "Could care are less" than what? "Couldn't care less" sets a bottom for the level of carrying. You cannot go any lower.

glass house dweller, lay down those rocks

they're not trying to establish a minimum. All they really mean is "less," i.e. their level of caring is low. There ain't no more to it than that.

I could care less than you, grammar troll.

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.

This ^

7/10

Got two pages of people falling for it

rather-impressed wrote:

7/10

Got two pages of people falling for it

I could care less a lot more than you could care less.