Why do the British say "I couldn't care less", while the Americans say "I could care less"?

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Surely the Americans are logically incorrect here?

― Pedant, Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:38 (twenty-two years ago)

Isn't the British version a complete statement, while has the American has an implied "...but not much less"?

― Eyeball Kicks (Eyeball Kicks), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

yes, we're idiots. I could care less though.

― teeny (teeny), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

yep, lets club 'em and eat their bones

― winterland, Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

And in manchester, it's ".. give a shit" and turn head to look in opposite direction

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

'Same difference'

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:41 (twenty-two years ago)

"i could care less" is indeed incorrect. it has simply become an acceptable form of wrongness. I'm still trying to figure out how "same thing" became "same difference" in the U.S. And i'm still trying to figure out why it still bugs me.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:42 (twenty-two years ago)

(comes out of hiding)
The best explanation I've heard is that there is an unspoken "Like" or "As though" in front of the US version.
(goes into hiding again)

― Sam (chirombo), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

ha! x-post N.

― scott seward (scott seward), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

'same difference' implies four things...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:43 (twenty-two years ago)

Is it not like "cheap at half the price" ? Because it sounds like the correct phrase everyone knows what you mean...even if it doesn't make sense.

― winterland, Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I always took 'same difference' to be a weird mutation of 'no difference', but I guess it's a conflation of that and 'same thing'.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:53 (twenty-two years ago)

"I couldn't care less" is literal, "I could care less" is ironic.

― Jonathan Z. (Joanthan Z.), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:57 (twenty-two years ago)

It is surely the lowest form of irony?

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 12:59 (twenty-two years ago)

Any routinized wrongness is lame.

"What can I do you for?"

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"Pardon my French"

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:00 (twenty-two years ago)

"My arse is on fire!!!"

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

I say "I couldn't care less", but I could see how some people would say "I could care less" instead because it is said sarcastically so it has the same effect.

― El Diablo Robotico (Nicole), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:50 (twenty-two years ago)

It's been a business doing pleasaure with you...

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:51 (twenty-two years ago)

My brain parses 'I could care less' too slowly for sarcasm to work.

― N. (nickdastoor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 13:52 (twenty-two years ago)

"same difference" always makes my head explode

― Donna Brown (Donna Brown), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:15 (twenty-two years ago)

"I could care less" drives me nuts, but I was taught by nuns and have an attitude about it.

― Kerry (dymaxia), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:16 (twenty-two years ago)

"Pardon my French" -> refers to *blue/vulgar* words, no? however it's much funnier (or maybe not) if you see it as a reference to oral sex. I would answer:

"Oh no, go right a head." (har har)

― nathalie (nathalie), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

i'm american, and i say "i couldn't care less." but my mum is a brit.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:20 (twenty-two years ago)

That's a french name... hmmm (xpost nathalie)

― mark grout (mark grout), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:21 (twenty-two years ago)

THE ANSWERS EXPLAINED TO YOUR BAD SELVES:

"I could care less." Always wrong. Wrong in england, wrong in america. Stupid thing said by stupid people. People in america with any sense say "I couldn't care less." Maybe there aren't many people with any sense in america. Could be.

"Same difference." Simply a charming malapropism appropriate for any continent (or tiny island kingdom). It's not "the same thing" necessarily. The phrase grants a different context with analagous results.

― Skottie, Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:26 (twenty-two years ago)

I really think people say "I could care less" just out of laziness. We Americans don't have time for all these syllables.

― kirsten (kirsten), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:27 (twenty-two years ago)

I could care less...but I don't.

The edification of the American Dream, the everpresent potential of superlative, but the postponing of achieving such due to engaging programming on the Fox Network.

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:28 (twenty-two years ago)

Americans need to revive the whole Wayne's World thing again. "I could care less" could then get followed up with an enthusiastic "not!"

― maypang (maypang), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:34 (twenty-two years ago)

I tried to revive the "not!" thing a couple of months ago. Most people laughed when I said it, but it didn't really catch on.

― kirsten (kirsten), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:35 (twenty-two years ago)

Ex-squeeze me?

― maypang (maypang), Thursday, 4 March 2004 16:45 (twenty-two years ago)

I prefer 'I don't give a fuck.'

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

I am, however, a well-known potty mouth.

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:03 (twenty-two years ago)

Why is colloquial and grammatically incorrect language that must be understood with reference to the tone in which it is spoken celebrated when it is en francais and dismissed when practiced by Americans?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:14 (twenty-two years ago)

Hey, you already run the world! Do we have to like the way you speak too?

― Lord Publicschool-Buggery, Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:18 (twenty-two years ago)

Do you have to dislike us for our size?

― gabbneb (gabbneb), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:38 (twenty-two years ago)

I thought size didn't matter!

― luna (luna.c), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:39 (twenty-two years ago)

The first person to say "you were misinformed" will get a kick in the face.

― small feet, small hands (Mark C), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:40 (twenty-two years ago)

Je m'en fut!

― The Huckle-Buck (Horace Mann), Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:46 (twenty-two years ago)

gabbneb, why are you even trying?

― Allyzay, Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:49 (twenty-two years ago)

Je suis désolé mais vous devez parler en américain. Si non, les terroristes ont gagné.

― Lord Publicschool-Buggery, Thursday, 4 March 2004 17:51 (twenty-two years ago)

b-b-but "I could care less" is considered wrong in America too.

― Curt1s St3ph3ns, Thursday, 4 March 2004 20:55 (twenty-two years ago)

This is crap.

All of the threads today have been really shitty. Lots of "Americans are wrong because ________" going on. Funk dat.

― Spinktor au de toilette (El Spinktor), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:06 (twenty-two years ago)

I prefer 'I don't give a fuck.'

i'm more of an "i don't give a shit" kinda guy, myself.

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:15 (twenty-two years ago)

Curtis is right. If I were to say such a phrase, it would be "couldn't care less". Everyone I know says it that way too.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:24 (twenty-two years ago)

you must be in the clever part of america.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:28 (twenty-two years ago)

well, oops DOES live in blue state ... so i guess yer right!!

― Eisbär (llamasfur), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:29 (twenty-two years ago)

Not saying I've never heard people hear say "could care less", just that claiming it's an American thang---rather than just a bad grammar thang--- is incorrect.

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

hear=here

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:35 (twenty-two years ago)

it is an american thing and a bad grammar thing, I think.

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:36 (twenty-two years ago)

Meaning Americans with bad grammar might say it, but Brits with bad grammar wouldn't?

― oops (Oops), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:40 (twenty-two years ago)

meaning

― RJG (RJG), Thursday, 4 March 2004 21:42 (twenty-two years ago)

You're confusing America with GEORGE W. BUSH. HE says "I could care less," but most Americans say "I couldn't care less," which is the correct and logical way of saying it.

― natasha lushina, Thursday, 4 March 2004 22:58 (twenty-two years ago)

Some not too clever Australians say "I could care less" as well. But I suspect they got it from Americans. Neither group have ever combined the phrase with a sarcastic tone in my earshot, though.

― Tim Finney (Tim Finney), Friday, 5 March 2004 09:52 (twenty-two years ago)

I always thought it was kinda sarcastic - "like I could care less".

― Markelby (Mark C), Friday, 5 March 2004 10:05 (twenty-two years ago)

I imagined that the stress was on the could. i.e. I COULD care less, (but in fact the truth is somewhat different)

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

By the way, the correct spelling is: je m'en fous

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:39 (twenty-two years ago)

It is such an expressive 'attitudinous' phrase anyway that I wonder if most people who 'get it wrong' do so deliberately to be even more annoying.

― Fred Nerk (Fred Nerk), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

Thta's giving them too much credit. Many of the people who say it are ignorant of the correct phrase. The remainder know the correct phrase, but are too lazy to say it. (So why don't they just say "don't care"?)

― dave225 (Dave225), Friday, 5 March 2004 13:53 (twenty-two years ago)

The German equivalent, scheissegal, is quite nice. [scheißegal with the scharfes ess]

Literally, shit equal.

― Skottie, Friday, 5 March 2004 15:36 (twenty-two years ago)

"Can't win for losing"

I know what it means, but beyond that I can't parse it.

― Tracer Hand (tracerhand), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 03:37 (twenty-two years ago)

I heard a highly educated (-sounding) American woman on the radio last night use the expression 'My son could care less.' I was quite surprised. I guess it shows that it's simply a colloquialism that exists, whether we like it or not.

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 13:22 (twenty-two years ago)

"not half" is the expression that confuses me the most... "he's not half decent"

so what then? he's 3/4 decent? fully decent? 1/3 decent? 0.37829 decent? 3.141592653589% decent?

― ken c (ken c), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 13:38 (twenty-two years ago)

My grandfather used to say 'It isn't part...'.

(In answer to your question, Ken, presumably this means 'not half, but completely')

― Japanese Giraffe (Japanese Giraffe), Tuesday, 9 March 2004 13:46 (twenty-two years ago)

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