the phrase should be "i couldn't care less", meaning you care about it so little that you could not care about anything less than that. its my pet peeve when they say they "could care less."
2006-10-03 05:18:34 · 14 answers · asked by student 3 in Education & Reference ➔ Words & Wordplay
I have been correcting people for years on this one and it still annoys me when I hear it.
I think it just becomes part of the lexicon after a while. So many people mispronounce, misuse, and are just ignorant in general of grammar and language that it becomes generally and widely acceptable. I have seen these types of mistakes in supposedly "higher literary" publications.
When mistakes such as the one you have pointed out, are brought to the attention of the speaker, they become defensive and call you "the grammar police" or some such nonsense.
Another common mistake centres around imply and infer...the speaker implies, the listener inferes.
2006-10-03 09:30:30 · answer #1 · answered by tigerlily01ca 2 · 0⤊ 1⤋
My pet peeve is people using a lower case letter for the first person and not starting sentences with capital letters.
Missing out the possessive apostrophe in words like "it's" also annoys the hell out me.
That gives you 6 errors but I guess you couldn't care less...
2006-10-03 12:20:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
It only annoys you when your caring about something and you think the person your talking to should care as well, but when they say that they could care less its extremely annoying to you because your thinking "whats wrong with you, cant you see how important this is?' Then your on a roll and get angry with them for everything. I have a confession: I'm like that too.
2006-10-03 12:28:23 · answer #3 · answered by lori 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Wow. I've heard of some slight pet peeves before, but this one takes the cake. I for one could care less...
2006-10-03 12:21:14 · answer #4 · answered by Jim P 4 · 0⤊ 1⤋
I'm with you! The other ones that really irritate me are when people say "supposably", instead of "supposedly", "nucular" for "nuclear", and "reelatore" when it's actually "realtor". If you're half the grammarian I am, you'll probably enjoy "Eats, Shoots, and Leaves" by Lynn Truss. - I don't know if it's okay to recommend a book here, but it's wonderful.
Grammar freaks, untie! -oops, I mean "unite"... ; )
2006-10-03 12:30:37 · answer #5 · answered by 40yomama 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think it's ignorance as much as it is use of a literary/conversational device. It's the same idea as "fat chance" really meaning "slim chance". In my experience, the wrong term is used as often as the correct one by the same people, who I know, if you were to pin them down and ask "do you really mean EXACTLY what you're saying? they'd say no - which leads me back to my original contention that this sort of "reverse speak" is a type of literary device.
2006-10-03 12:45:45 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
I hate that too.
And using "loan" as a verb. And "normalcy" - it's not a word. Normality is. Also, when they say "less people came" than "fewer people came." Are they talking about midgets?
2006-10-03 12:20:52 · answer #7 · answered by American citizen and taxpayer 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Because if you really couldn't care less, you wouldn't mention it at all.
2006-10-03 12:27:10 · answer #8 · answered by Goddess of Grammar 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They don't know any better. That's one of my pet peeves too.
2006-10-03 12:25:41 · answer #9 · answered by jojo 3 · 0⤊ 1⤋
some people don't harp on grammar as you do but if it bugs you that much correct them and see how far you get.
2006-10-03 12:34:29 · answer #10 · answered by chrissy 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋