blows Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 I could care less, yes, I think it's an Americanism. I grew up with it. Saying or hearing I couldn't care less sounds funny to me. The usage is not going away. Personally, I agree with the theory that the seemingly odd usage was due to the cultural influence of Yiddish language irony/sarcasm on American pop culture. There aren't a lot of Yiddish speakers left alive but there were many in our cultural capital New York at a seminal time. But if you want to think we're just stupid and don't know what we're actually saying, we could care less. As Liberman observed in a 2004 post at Language Log, “could care less” is not uniquely odd. Its pattern is familiar in other phrases like “I could give a dam_n” (and its ruder variants), and in the lyrics of Sammy Cahn’s 1940s classic, “I Should Care.” But whatever its sources — sarcasm, irony, Yiddish, or (as its detractors say) ignorance — “could care less” is snugly embedded in the American idiom. Yet the complaints keep rolling in. http://www.word-dete...ould-care-less/ Well, I could care a lot less about your kind explanation, so thank you for that. "England and America are two countries divided by a common language." - George Bernard Shaw Professor Henry Higgins of 'My Fair Lady' (1964) has quite a bit to say on the British abuse of the language as well in the scripts opening scene. http://www.script-o-rama.com/movie_scripts/m/my-fair-lady-script-transcript.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
animatic Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 (edited) For want of an iPad edit feature at that moment, 11:55:03 sideways in bed, ' care and less' was missing a 'space', so yes truncated. ) Or just idiomatic. Jing was correct that there are two ways to say the same basic phrase, and I did live in NYC for sometime and absorbed the yiddisher variation, "I could care less" as well as the yankee one "I couldn't care less". Ofcoursethefactitwasajokeseemstohavebeentotallylost. Edited February 24, 2012 by animatic Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparebox2 Posted February 24, 2012 Share Posted February 24, 2012 Lack of transparency, conflict of interest, impropriety, sexual liaison? Well as of a few minutes ago in the Nation, 3 Democrats are to be sued for discrediting and defaming the Prime Minister. So the shoe is on the other foot. http://www.nationmul...t-30176249.html Like Anwar, I hope they bring the mattress (or sofa in this case) to court as prove. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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