I could care less!

Here's the stupid Americanism of the week. Hopefully it hasn't become a stupid Canadianism, though it almost certainly has crossed our northern border, since it's usually only a question of time before some dumb, widespread usage originating in the lower 48 infects that Dominion). I suppose it's also in use as a very annoying Anglicism, Australianism, and South Africanism too. Here it is: "I could care less!" Meaning, of course, it's exact opposite, "I couldn't care less." When did this dumb expression really take off? The either stupid or just heedless American speaker who utters this is actually saying something like: "I could care less about this matter than I do in fact care." Meaning, in other words, that the speaker DOES in fact care, at least to some extent. Of course, we're all familiar with other expressions that mean the opposite, or close to the opposite, of what the speaker intends: "I don't care no more." Which is actually to say: "I care about that, to some degree." It would be proper to say instead: "I care no more..." or "I don't care anymore..." But that's the basic double-negative syndrome. Of course, in certain other languages, like Spanish and Russian, employing a double negative construction is in fact acceptable usage. Not in English, and I think double negatives should be discouraged, for logic's sake. And it's not really a question of GRAMMAR, but rather, semantics. The sentence "I could care less" is in fact grammatically correct; the failure of this expression has to do with the fact that it conveys an unintended MEANING. Regardless, in terms of stupid usage, "I could care less!" is right up there with "Irregardless," which people say to mean "regardless," but isn't even a word, in the sense that it's not to be found in the official dictionaries. Please make a note of it, and for Gawd's sake, speak correctly, so as not to needlessly irritate your humble narrator:) Like · · Promote · Share