Quote:
Originally Posted by Andrew H.
Well, actually, it being used in print for 50 years is some of the best possible evidence that it is correct.
Care to explain the problem with my analogy? You can say "I don't give a rat's *ss," but you can also say "I could give a rat's *ss." Both mean the same thing.
This has been studied a little bit. Steven Pinker thinks that it is meant sarcastically. Some linguists think that it may have started sarcastically and then normalized. But the most interesting theory (to me) is that [could] + [expression indicating extreme lack of interest, usually scatological] carries some sort implicit negative meaning. (You can substitute a lot of four letter words for "rat's *ss") in the example above.
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It doesn't matter how long it's been in print, it's still wrong. "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less" do not mean the same thing. Period. No matter how it is used. People use the latter simply because they are two lazy to use the full expression. As far as it being a sarcastic version, remember when some educators tried to justify the poor English used by many African/Americans by calling it Ebonics? That was well received (that
was sarcasm, btw) Frankly, the vast majority of people I've heard use "I could care less" weren't sophisticated enough to use, let alone understand, that subtle a level of sarcasm.
You're comparing apples to kumquats when comparing "I couldn't care less" and "I could care less" to your rat anatomy examples since the former examples do not mean the same thing (despite the erroneous common usage)while the latter examples do.