Couldn't care less Vs Could care less

[Adam See]

I've never got this, it's completely alien to me as to why people say it.

Couldn't care less means you couldn't care anything less about something.

Could care less means you care a slight bit and could care less.

It's never been 'could care less'! it's 'couldn't care less'!

 

[KOSR]

I could care less about this threat!

I think it's could, meant as slightly degrading and sarcastic.

But whatever

 

[aBAzLLnA]

So many people use this the wrong way

 

[Interpol]

"I couldn't care less" is the correct phrase...This was actually a question on the SAT II Writing test when I took it a few years ago.

 

[Nocturnal]

Sounded interesting so I did some looking...

http://c2.com/cgi/wiki?IdiomsAreAtomic

"Thus, an idiom's internal structure may be ungrammatical, logically invalid ('I could care less' for 'I couldn't care less', a sarcastic variant of the latter which became common in and of itself)"

 

[DjDreamer]

If I don't care about something i don't bother to think or talk about it...

So... if you continue to talk about a subject after you say "I couldn't care less" about that subject...you're a hypocrite...

Saying "I could care less" is more realistic...

 

[Nocturnal]

Originally posted by photo 1
could care less implies that you could actually care less about it and so you have not reached the bottom end of how much you do not care about something.. therefore it's not something you totally dont care about which therefore is wrong used in the context most people use it

couldn't care less means you literally could not care less about it, you have reached the bottom limit of how much you care about it, in other words you dont care about it at all, you care about everything else more.. this is the correct way to say it..

Yes but idioms are far from literal so it would be safe to say that if enough people use one form or the other, it still has an implied meaning.

 

[Bonhomme]

Call the logic police!

Actually neither is strictly correct. They're both relative expressions that do not automatically state any particular level of caring. Could or could not care less than what?

But if one doesn't care at all, then it certainly follows that they could not care less.

It's basically an abuse of "if/then" logic.

 

[silverwex]

Unusual coz i was gonna post about this a few months ago.

I always the americans saying could care less but that doesnt make sense. Couldnt care less is correct.

 

[Jay-X]

in italian, correct form is the translation of "couldn't care less", but we often say "could care less" too... i think it's easier to pronounce when ur talkin' fast, so even if it's an incorrect form, it's used a lot...

 

[Desdinova]

I don't use either. I either say "Don't give a fvck" or "don't give a 5hit"