Why do you Americans do this lol?

Question

From my experience, when you guys don't care about something, you say "I could care less". Now lets all think about that together. Yes, it means that you do care! The correct phrase, and the one I use (I am South Africa) is "I couldn't care less". That means that I could not possible care less than what I do, and therefore, I care very little! Someone explain this to me because I just don't get it!

*South African

Answer 1

The key, I finally discovered, was SARCASM.

It's not what *I* learned to say --and I was always critical of it as 'illogical'-- but more recently I started looking into it... and it may be many of us have misunderstood the point.

But the answer is not ANY of the convoluted attempts several have made here to explain it logically.

The way to make sense of it is to recognize that it is SARCASTIC. One writer, in fact, points out that the way the whole expression differently from the negative form. I can't fully represent it here, so you'll have to look at the link, but I've tried to give the idea below (I've marked the highpoint of the expression with asterisks. In the second version "could" is the lowest, least emphasized part, quite the opposite of "COULDN"T".)

"i *COULDN't* care LESS". vs. "I could *CARE* less."

http://ling.kgw.tu-berlin.de/lexicography/data/MAVENS.html p. 377
= Steven Pinker, The Language Instinct - How the Mind Creates Language, HarperPerennial, 1995, ch 12


Note - this may well explain the ORIGIN of this variation. That doesn't mean everyone who USES this form actually GETS it that it is supposed to be sarcastic (and so, they may not pronounce it as described above). But it does argue that the "illogic" of the form was originally intentional!


Compare this with the sarcastic use of "fat chance" (or in a longer form "fat lot of good it will do"). The tone of voice that indicates one means the exact opposite.

But note that even though each expression refers to the same 'basic facts', they are NOT exactly the same (and so cannot be exchanged) because the sarcastic "fat chance" includes an ATTITUDE that's not present in "slim chance". The same is true of "I could/n't care less"

http://idioms.thefreedictionary.com/fat+chance
http://listserv.linguistlist.org/cgi-bin/wa?A2=ind9911d&L=ads-l&F=&S=&P=4982

Answer 2

I've always wondered that myself... it's interesting to read the answers, because I had never thought of "i couldn't care less" as being interpreted to mean that you care about it (that was a really confusing sentence, but hopefully you understand what I'm getting at)... I could care less sounds better, in my opinion...

But yeah, I think it's all subjective.

Answer 3

Which Americans? A piece I saw on Sixty Minutes (a news magazine program) several years ago noted the *increase* in dialects and regional variation in language patterns (including idioms like the one you cite) since World War II.

As others have pointed out, some Americans say "could" in this phrase, others say "couldn't." Others change it still further and say, "Like I could care less" or "As if I could care less."

Answer 4

Because we know what the person means and don't nit pick. Look at the sentence in your question

"That means that I could not possible care less than what I do, and therefore, I care very little! "

The correct form of the word should be "possibly" not possible. See, I can nit pick too.

Answer 5

I could choose not to care at all. Most people have a concern or a thought, so they form an opinion that is care or absence of care.
I guess we all talk funny.
Esperanto es FUN!

Answer 6

It's a grammatical error but I never noticed people saying that. If I did, I doubt I would think anything of it because I would understand what they meant.

Answer 7

OR....

"I couldn't care less" could easily be interpreted as meaning "I could care more." If you don't care less, then you must care more. So our way of saying it isn't quite so inaccurate as you say. I do care less about this than you do, thus "I could care less."

I think you need to reconsider your thoughts on this. It is too subjective and open to interpretation.

Answer 8

When they were young no one corrected them. Thats all there is to it. Its informal speech, so no one thinks anything of it.

Answer 9

yeah. i noticed that when i was younger and now i say, i couldn't care less.

Answer 10

It's because we're very lazy when we speak. Like instead of saying... walking we say walkin, we are just lazy is all!