Why do Americans say they 'could care less'

[Moejoe]

"Yonder lies da castle of my fadder da King." Shiny Karma for whoever can tell me who spoke that immortal line.

[desertgrandma]

"The Prince who was a Thief"

No Karma, please. I cheated and googled it..........

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by desertgrandma

"The Prince who was a Thief"

No Karma, please. I cheated and googled it..........

Extra Karma must be given for quick and efficient use of Google It always cracks me up when I watch that movie and Tony Curtis says that line. I consider it a form of beautiful poetry

EDIT: and here's a weird one for you, although I can swear that I've heard Curtis say those lines countless times in that very movie, apparently he never did (is this a case of "Play it Again Sam"?). Apparently the line "my Faddah" appears in The Black Shield of Falworth, and also Son of Ali Baba, the rest is apparently a mix of other lines from other movies. Wow! Now I have to check my memory for everything I thought I remembered

[Lady Blue]

Originally Posted by Moejoe

Extra Karma must be given for quick and efficient use of Google It always cracks me up when I watch that movie and Tony Curtis says that line. I consider it a form of beautiful poetry

EDIT: and here's a weird one for you, although I can swear that I've heard Curtis say those lines countless times in that very movie, apparently he never did (is this a case of "Play it Again Sam"?). Apparently the line "my Faddah" appears in The Black Shield of Falworth, and also Son of Ali Baba, the rest is apparently a mix of other lines from other movies. Wow! Now I have to check my memory for everything I thought I remembered

False memories are so intriguing.

[Neil]

We love double negatives such as "I don't have none" instead of I don't have any.

Not surprising there'd be a few double positives in the brew as well.

[iain_benson]

Originally Posted by Neil

We love double negatives such as "I don't have none" instead of I don't have any.

Not surprising there'd be a few double positives in the brew as well.

A professor was giving a lecture in linguistics, and explained that in English, a double negative makes a positive, but in Russian a double negative is still a negative. However, he continues, there is no language in which a double positive make a negative. A Scots voice pipes up from the back "Aye, right!"

[GeoffC]

Originally Posted by Neil

We love double negatives such as "I don't have none" instead of I don't have any.

Not surprising there'd be a few double positives in the brew as well.

the area where i was dragged up through school is characterised by double-negatives in its mode of speech. funny thing was it took at least 35 odd years before anyone pointed it out to me ....

[Phebe]

It's an idiom, that's all, somehow corrupted from "I couldn't care less." Words mean what they mean, they don't mean what they say: crucial linguistics point.


I usually say, "I can't tell you how much I don't care, but it's a lot."

[Lady Blue]

Originally Posted by Phebe

I usually say, "I can't tell you how much I don't care, but it's a lot."

Good one - I like it.

[nekokami]

Nice post about the origin of "I could care less" here: http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-ico1.htm Excerpt:

There’s a close link between the stress pattern of I could care less and the kind that appears in certain sarcastic or self-deprecatory phrases that are associated with the Yiddish heritage and (especially) New York Jewish speech. Perhaps the best known is I should be so lucky!, in which the real sense is often “I have no hope of being so lucky”, a closely similar stress pattern with the same sarcastic inversion of meaning. There’s no evidence to suggest that I could care less came directly from Yiddish, but the similarity is suggestive. There are other American expressions that have a similar sarcastic inversion of apparent sense, such as Tell me about it!, which usually means “Don’t tell me about it, because I know all about it already”. These may come from similar sources.

I used to think it was people incorrectly dropping the negative in "I couldn't care less," but later I concluded that it was meant to be sarcasm, and was deliberate. I think this analysis supports that theory.

[zelda_pinwheel]

Originally Posted by iain_benson

A professor was giving a lecture in linguistics, and explained that in English, a double negative makes a positive, but in Russian a double negative is still a negative. However, he continues, there is no language in which a double positive make a negative. A Scots voice pipes up from the back "Aye, right!"

[ShortNCuddlyAm]

Originally Posted by iain_benson

A professor was giving a lecture in linguistics, and explained that in English, a double negative makes a positive, but in Russian a double negative is still a negative. However, he continues, there is no language in which a double positive make a negative. A Scots voice pipes up from the back "Aye, right!"

And so very true, especially if said in the right intonation

[badgoodDeb]

Over here it's "Yeah, Riiiiiight." But same thing!

[Sparrow]

In my experience, people who say "I'm sorry, but..." aren't in the least bit sorry - although they generally should be .

[Bilbo1967]

Originally Posted by Sparrow

In my experience, people who say "I'm sorry, but..." aren't in the least bit sorry - although they generally should be .

We have a particular senior manager at work who gives us regular briefings on company-wide initiatives. At these, he often uses the phrase, "Let me make this very clear..." and then proceeds to do the exact opposite.

It's got to the point that when we hear that particular phrase we pretty much stop listening because we know what follows will be a mixture of management bulls**t and obfuscation!