Thanks for your long post, it was very informative and you've convinced me about "could care less". I think HN's apparently strange mix of anti-authoritarianis

Thanks for your long post, it was very informative and you've convinced me about "could care less". I think HN's apparently strange mix of anti-authoritarianism with prescriptive attitudes to language becomes easier to understand if you consider that the anti-authoritarianism is not an independent value, existing for its own sake. It goes hand in glove with a meritocratic value. HN contributors aim for and admire quality over authority, and I think that's a better explanation for the language pedantry we sometimes demonstrate. Of course I'm describing the ideal, which is not always achieved, and HN's idea of "quality" in the use of language is subjective.