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“I could care less” is a bastardization if couldn’t care less. I have no source but I sincerely doubt “could care less” was the original usage. Another one is
by FPGAhacker 7y ago
“I could care less” is a bastardization if couldn’t care less. I have no source but I sincerely doubt “could care less” was the original usage.
Another one is the pattern “all X are not Y.” Vs “not all X are Y.”
- coldpie 7y agoWe're getting quite off topic from antonyms, but: > “I could care less” is a bastardization of couldn’t care less. I've come to the conclusion that this bastardization came from the way "--dn't c--" feels in the mouth. Lots of consonant sounds in a row. Drop the "n't" and it feels much better to say, even though the phrase becomes nonsense. You even get a little bonus alliteration.
- fortran77 7y ago"I _could_ care less." It's meant to be a sarcastic expression. William Safire covered this (probably before you were born). https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/30/archives/on-language-twoway-words.html https://www.nytimes.com/1979/09/30/archives/on-language-twow...
- coldpie 7y agoThanks for the link. It seems to support my hypothesis about "mouthfeel" and doesn't mention sarcasm at all, so I have to admit I don't understand your comment.
- Afton 7y agofortran77 mixed up two famous linguists. He probably meant to refer to Steven Pinker. Here's a blog discussing it since I can't link to the book: https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/i-could-care-less.html https://www.grammarphobia.com/blog/2007/01/i-could-care-less...