Literally just talking about that! I agree that the original intent (and, you know, meanings of words) should make it “couldn’t” but I think the two have linguistically drifted together within the phrase.
The rules-boy in me rallies against it, but the descriptivist in me celebrates and I couldn’t care less how he said it.
On a slightly more serious note, it makes dry humor a bit harder to land since you can’t rely on subtlety as much. Like “I could care less about my SO” in context where it’s the punchline of a misdirection joke.
Bernie said “could care less” in his response to the sotu last night. Made me cringe.
Literally just talking about that! I agree that the original intent (and, you know, meanings of words) should make it “couldn’t” but I think the two have linguistically drifted together within the phrase.
The rules-boy in me rallies against it, but the descriptivist in me celebrates and I couldn’t care less how he said it.
Wittgenstein said that language isn’t actually semantic in its natural state. Instead, language serves as a sort of game to accomplish social ends.
“I could care less” serves the social end of telling everyone you have no critical thinking skills and shouldn’t be taken seriously.
Lol, that second thought boomed me pretty good, thanks
Lol.
On a slightly more serious note, it makes dry humor a bit harder to land since you can’t rely on subtlety as much. Like “I could care less about my SO” in context where it’s the punchline of a misdirection joke.
Such is life though.