Weird Phrases

PJ_Soul wrote:

"I could care less."

IT DOESN'T MAKE ANY SENSE PEOPLE. But most of you probably couldn't care less. :P

From what I understand,
"I could care less" is a bastardization
of the more common "I couldn't care less."

"I could care less" is technically grammatically correct,
but is generally used in the same context as
"I couldn't care less."

Cheers.

Jason P wrote:

I'll bet you dollars to donuts ...

One of my old teachers used that one all the time

I always liked this one:

"alright there sonny jim"

as well as this one:

BLOODY HELL!

They are selling like hotcakes!

Dru_Cortez wrote:

PJ_Soul wrote:

But it literally means the exact opposite of what the person saying it actually means. It's totally stupid. I hate it.

You mean like when the teenagers these days say
"That's sick!" to mean something amazing?
Or how the 80s kids used to say "bad" meaning "good"?
Or how MILLIONS of people say 'literally' when they
actually mean 'figuratively'?
Irony abounds in modern slang.

Cheers.

No, I don't think that's what is going on at all. It's not slang. It is simply a whole lot of people who don't give a shit if they are making sense or not. I mean when they say "I could care less" they are trying to say that they really really don't care and could not care about anything less. But what they are actually saying is that they COULD care less, which means they do care to at least some extent. And that is not what they think they are saying at all. It really irritates me that people use this phrase even though it means the opposite of what they are trying to say, and they don't even care. :fp: Why in the fuck don't they say "couldn't care less", which is what they mean and what the saying actually is, and how people all over the English speaking world say it except in America. What, is the n't part to much? Makes the sentence too long? Graa! :fp:

Dru_Cortez wrote:

I think it's just the evolution of language.
Have you noticed that people nowadays usually say,
"That's a whole nother thing,"
when they either mean
"A whole other thing" or
"Another thing"?

I guess it's possible that people are THAT dumb,
but I think it's just... accepted laziness.
We just agree to let it go because people aren't going to change
+ it just makes them feel foolish to be corrected.

Believe me though, I know where you're coming from.
I correct conversational grammar all the time when talking
with my friends.
They love it... yeah, that's it...
:roll:

Cheers.

I don't think it's about the evolution of language at all in this case. It's simply a matter of people not caring that they've allowed a term to mean the exact opposite of what they intend, and it's just because they don't give a shit that they sound like idiots and aren't making sense. Especially since a LOT of people DO use the proper term "Couldn't care less", even in the US. "Could care less" is not a universal phrase in the States. It's only used by those who don't care if their words make sense.