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Stars Remain In Their Usual Places; People Panic
asheller writes "The Star Tribune tells us the zodiac signs have shifted. Earth's wobble has shifted the signs, a new one's been added and many of us have changed signs. Formerly a Cancer, I've apparently been upgraded to Gemini and am now married to an Ophiuchus, a new sign. What's yor sign? The new Zodiac Chart is pretty interesting." Here are some priceless reactions to this celestial development. As long as the Chinese Zodiac is unaffected, I'll still be able to accurately judge people based on when they were born, so please indicate in comments your (new) sign and birth year animal, so we'll be able to know where you're coming from.
But the rest of us do, because we understand that real communication is important, and must have minimum standards. Like a defined difference between could and could not.
not true, I could, for example, care less about such an old, old rant I've been hearing my whole life. After reading your version of it, I could and now do care even less.
Haha. Nice try. But not only was it pretty obvious that this wasn't what the poster meant, this also doesn't follow logically.
It is possible for someone to honestly state "I could not care less." If you want to be so literal about it, then what it means is that it isn't possible for them to care less than they already do. It doesn't say "not care at all."
On the other hand, again literally, "I could care less" says nothing about the degree to which the person cares, except that he/she does care at least to some tiny degree. Other than that, it could be any amount of caring at all. So the only literal meaning that statement has is "I care at least a little bit."
Notice that both statements allow for at least some degree of caring. If you want to say that you don't care at all, then say "I don't care."
The fact is, according to what he obviously meant and the rules of English, he got it wrong. Live with it.
Taken literally, "I could care less" does mean you at least care a little bit right now. See this continuum of caring I found.
Although "I couldn't care less" is the original form, "I could care less" is classic American sarcasm - a positive phrase meant negatively. I wouldn't consider it any more "wrong" than phrases like "Lucky you!" (said to someone suffering misfortune), or "Tell me about it!" (said when you've heard it all before and really don't want to be told all about it.)
This page was also interesting.
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