4 ms·

I think iMessage proved that Apple could give a damn what the carriers want.

lostlogin 10y ago
This may be a failing of mine or a regional thing, but what does this comment mean? I read it literally as saying that Apple has done what carriers want and has made iMessage to suit carriers. I suspect that this is the opposite of what is intended though, as iMessage disempowers carriers imho. How does culturestate's comment work?
- phreaky 10y ago
  "Could give a damn" and "couldn't give a damn" can be used as synonyms in American slang. Or it might just be the South.
  - lostlogin 10y ago
    Thanks, now this says something that squares with what I would expect it to mean. Strange how dropping that very key word leaves the same meaning. Still, English has many strange quirks.
    - DigitalJack 10y ago
      It's super annoying but it has to do with misunderstandings and mispronunciations finding their way into common language. Another terrible one is "I could care less" vs "I couldn't care less." Both mean the same thing in the common language, but if I hear someone say the "could" version, they lose a lot of respect in my eyes. Languages evolve, and mostly it irritates me. I hate that the English Dictionaries used to be an authoritative source, and are now just a reflection of common usage. Yet at the same time I recognize the need for languages to evolve as life does not stand still.
      - mikeash 10y ago
        Are you also irritated by all the changes that happened before you were born, or is it just the new ones that bug you? Dictionaries as an authoritative source really just means that they reflect older common usage. It just makes them slow, not somehow better.
        DigitalJack 10y ago
        So the "Urban Dictionary" should really be called the "Fast Dictionary."
      - HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
        Languages evolve, and mostly it irritates me. I hate that the English Dictionaries used to be an authoritative source, and are now just a reflection of common usage We should start a club :-)
      - TeMPOraL 10y ago
        Dictionaries were never an authoritative (prescriptive) source. They are by their very idea a collection of common usages.
  - JustSomeNobody 10y ago
    As a Southerner, no, they are not interchangeable. Annoys me to no end...
- dspillett 10y ago
  It is a bit of colloquial American English where they have dropped the negative but still use the phrase in the same context. It is the same problem with "I could care less" when what the speaker actually means is "I couldn't care less".

This may be a failing of mine or a regional thing, but what does this comment mean? I read it literally as saying that Apple has done what carriers want and has made iMessage to suit carriers. I suspect that this is the opposite of what is intended though, as iMessage disempowers carriers imho. How does culturestate's comment work?

phreaky 10y ago
"Could give a damn" and "couldn't give a damn" can be used as synonyms in American slang. Or it might just be the South.
- lostlogin 10y ago
  Thanks, now this says something that squares with what I would expect it to mean. Strange how dropping that very key word leaves the same meaning. Still, English has many strange quirks.
  - DigitalJack 10y ago
    It's super annoying but it has to do with misunderstandings and mispronunciations finding their way into common language. Another terrible one is "I could care less" vs "I couldn't care less." Both mean the same thing in the common language, but if I hear someone say the "could" version, they lose a lot of respect in my eyes. Languages evolve, and mostly it irritates me. I hate that the English Dictionaries used to be an authoritative source, and are now just a reflection of common usage. Yet at the same time I recognize the need for languages to evolve as life does not stand still.
    - mikeash 10y ago
      Are you also irritated by all the changes that happened before you were born, or is it just the new ones that bug you? Dictionaries as an authoritative source really just means that they reflect older common usage. It just makes them slow, not somehow better.
      - DigitalJack 10y ago
        So the "Urban Dictionary" should really be called the "Fast Dictionary."
    - HeyLaughingBoy 10y ago
      Languages evolve, and mostly it irritates me. I hate that the English Dictionaries used to be an authoritative source, and are now just a reflection of common usage We should start a club :-)
    - TeMPOraL 10y ago
      Dictionaries were never an authoritative (prescriptive) source. They are by their very idea a collection of common usages.
- JustSomeNobody 10y ago
  As a Southerner, no, they are not interchangeable. Annoys me to no end...
dspillett 10y ago
It is a bit of colloquial American English where they have dropped the negative but still use the phrase in the same context. It is the same problem with "I could care less" when what the speaker actually means is "I couldn't care less".