Thread: Good grammar can get you a date!
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Old 05-20-2013, 11:48 AM   #50
j.p.s
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Quote:
Originally Posted by doubleshuffle View Post
Yet it seems the people who dislike "could care less" are fighting a losing battle. Here's a statistic about the ratio of "could" vs. "couldn't" in the NYT:

----------"couldn't care less"--"could care less"
ratio
1960-1969 ------- 245 ---------- 5 --------- 2.04%
1970-1979 ------- 369 --------- 42 ------- 11.38%
1980-1989 ------- 274 --------- 77 ------- 28.10%
1990-1999 ------- 248 -------- 147 ------- 59.27%
2000-2009 ------- 259 -------- 194 ------- 74.90%

The whole article here.
That's a misleading way to present the comparison, better would be:

----------"couldn't care less"--"could care less" -- "% of total"

1960-1969 ------- 245 ---------- 5 --------- 2..00%
1970-1979 ------- 369 --------- 42 ------- 10.22%
1980-1989 ------- 274 --------- 77 ------- 21.94%
1990-1999 ------- 248 -------- 147 ------- 37.22%
2000-2009 ------- 259 -------- 194 ------- 42.83%
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