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One that amuses me is how the popular "I couldn't care less" (I really really don't care) got converted by people who couldn't care less about syntax and meanin

One that amuses me is how the popular "I couldn't care less" (I really really don't care) got converted by people who couldn't care less about syntax and meaning into "I could care less" That and "literally" being so frequently abused it now has a dictionary entry to explain that it can also be used to emphatically refer to non literal stuff. If you think showing enthusiasm for stuff by handing over a turd is weird, you'd also love the (nineties) British habit of complimenting something by saying it's "the dogs bollocks", as if canine testes were renowned for their desirability...

Nursie 3y ago
The dog certainly seems to spend a lot of time licking them! (I believe this is the origin of the saying)
bee_rider 3y ago
I have always interpreted “I could care less” as something like “Well, it is technically possible for me to care less.” Like, if you ask someone “how was your food” and they said “it was edible” or how their trip went and they responded “we made it back in one piece,” they don’t seem to be saying something good. Describing a very low lower-bound doesn’t technically say anything negative, but it sure implies it.
- maxbond 3y ago
  There's a phrase for this too; damning with faint praise.
- ralferoo 3y ago
  The important thing about those other phrases is that they originated in the UK where we use understatement as a form of humour, but it's important to understand the relationship between the speaker and listener and hidden shared context. E.g. your example "how was your food" ... "it was edible". If you've just been to a fairly average restaurant, that would be understood to mean it wasn't terrible but you didn't really enjoy it. If you're at a close friend's house for dinner and they served something amazing, and you replied "it was edible", it would be understood to mean that it was really good and far better than anything you could have made yourself. If you said the same thing to a mutual friend who didn't know about their cooking skills, it would be interpreted negatively. Another example would be replying to "How are you?" with "I'm not dead yet!" could mean anything without context, but most likely would be said to someone who knew your situation and that there'd been bad stuff going on, and would probably mean you were actually doing better than might be expected. As for "I could care less", I think it was probably just misheard as the negative is very weak "I could'(n) care less". Coupled with the end of "could" and start of "care" being the about the same position in the mouth, and the (n) requires the tongue to quickly block and release the air in the mouth whilst also nasalising the sound that lasts a fraction of a second, it would be easy for a lazy speaker to not make it clear and/or omit it, and then if the listener never bothered to think about the meaning, they could repeat it wrongly. The deliberately inverted meaning only really makes sense if it was followed by "but" that later got omitted. To me "I could care less, but ..." (and then just stopping) would have about the same effect as "I couldn't care less".
  - bee_rider 3y ago
    I think you are probably right that it is just the result of people mishearing the expression. In particular if my understanding was correct it would be delivered in a tone similar to how you’d expect to hear something like, “well, I could care less,” if that makes sense. But, I prefer to be wrong in a way that makes me believe people are being clever.

Nursie 3y ago

The dog certainly seems to spend a lot of time licking them! (I believe this is the origin of the saying)

bee_rider 3y ago

I have always interpreted “I could care less” as something like “Well, it is technically possible for me to care less.” Like, if you ask someone “how was your food” and they said “it was edible” or how their trip went and they responded “we made it back in one piece,” they don’t seem to be saying something good. Describing a very low lower-bound doesn’t technically say anything negative, but it sure implies it.

maxbond 3y ago
There's a phrase for this too; damning with faint praise.
ralferoo 3y ago
The important thing about those other phrases is that they originated in the UK where we use understatement as a form of humour, but it's important to understand the relationship between the speaker and listener and hidden shared context. E.g. your example "how was your food" ... "it was edible". If you've just been to a fairly average restaurant, that would be understood to mean it wasn't terrible but you didn't really enjoy it. If you're at a close friend's house for dinner and they served something amazing, and you replied "it was edible", it would be understood to mean that it was really good and far better than anything you could have made yourself. If you said the same thing to a mutual friend who didn't know about their cooking skills, it would be interpreted negatively. Another example would be replying to "How are you?" with "I'm not dead yet!" could mean anything without context, but most likely would be said to someone who knew your situation and that there'd been bad stuff going on, and would probably mean you were actually doing better than might be expected. As for "I could care less", I think it was probably just misheard as the negative is very weak "I could'(n) care less". Coupled with the end of "could" and start of "care" being the about the same position in the mouth, and the (n) requires the tongue to quickly block and release the air in the mouth whilst also nasalising the sound that lasts a fraction of a second, it would be easy for a lazy speaker to not make it clear and/or omit it, and then if the listener never bothered to think about the meaning, they could repeat it wrongly. The deliberately inverted meaning only really makes sense if it was followed by "but" that later got omitted. To me "I could care less, but ..." (and then just stopping) would have about the same effect as "I couldn't care less".
- bee_rider 3y ago
  I think you are probably right that it is just the result of people mishearing the expression. In particular if my understanding was correct it would be delivered in a tone similar to how you’d expect to hear something like, “well, I could care less,” if that makes sense. But, I prefer to be wrong in a way that makes me believe people are being clever.