Grammatical Jeopardy – Couldn’t Care Less or Could Care Less
January 15, 2010
photo credit: Shawn M. Smith
This is Grammatical Jeopardy!
Host: Today’s categories: You’re on Your Way; Easy To Lose Loose Change; The Truth About Lie and Lay; They’re There With Their Wares; Who’s Whose; and finally, Butchered Common Phrases. Let’s play…
Contestant A: Give me Butchered Common Phrases for $200.
Host: A common phrase used to express a complete lack of interest, concern or caring.
Contestant B: What is “could care less”?
Host: No. [waits for another contestant to ring in…] The correct answer is “couldn’t care less”.
Using the phrase “could care less” actually means that one does, in fact, possess a measurable level of caring, concern or interest of a given situation and is contradictory to the context in which that phrase is commonly used. The use of “could care less”, in fact, expresses that one does care, have an interest, or a level of concern about a topic or situation.
Attempting to convey a position that one has no interest or concern would require the use of the phrase “couldn’t care less”, which indicates a state of mind completely devoid of caring, interest or concern. If one cannot care less, the indication is a level at which one could not possibly care less because he/she already does not care at all.
Incorrect usage: “I could care less what he thinks…” – meaning one does care and possesses a measurable level of caring from which feeling could be subtracted.
Correct usage: “I couldn’t care less what he thinks…” – meaning one does not care at all and thus it would be impossible to care any less or subtract feeling where none exists.
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11 Responses to “Grammatical Jeopardy – Couldn’t Care Less or Could Care Less”
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Alysson,
It’s so nice of you to help the less grammatically gifted. Or are they the more grammatically challenged?
Alan Bleiweiss´s last blog ..Rent My Torso @ SMX West 2010
[Reply]
Alysson Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 8:50 pm
Glad to help. And I’d tend to believe that “grammatically challenged”, rather than “grammatically gifted”. Being gifted insinuates some sort of innate tendency toward being grammatically correct. There’s also a dash of anal-retentive and obsessive-complusive that comes along with being so attentive to details like grammar and punctuation.
[Reply]
Yeah, these kind of topics concern me a lot these days, thanks for the short and nice article. I couldn’t care more what I think to do about my grammar (business writing in general).
Khaled Elsehsah´s last blog ..Remember this
[Reply]
Alysson Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 10:24 pm
I’m glad you found it useful, Khaled!
[Reply]
You had me at “Grammatical Jeopardy.”
As a fellow Grammar Nazi, I appreciate this post.
Stacy Lukasavitz´s last blog ..Be careful whom you “unfriend”
[Reply]
Alysson Reply:
January 15th, 2010 at 11:01 pm
Thanks! I’m flattered.
[Reply]
[...] This post was mentioned on Twitter by remarkablogger, Christina Gleason, Alan Bleiweiss, Kristy Bolsinger, Alysson Fergison and others. Alysson Fergison said: "Grammatical Jeopardy – Couldn't Care Less or Could Care Less" – http://cli.gs/z2zAPY [...]
Which is why I tend NOT to use to contracted version of “couldn’t”, instead use “could not”. Not only is it better for business writing, but it emphasizes the lack of caring in general.
Monica Wright´s last blog ..I Am Only As Good As My Network
[Reply]
Alysson Reply:
January 18th, 2010 at 6:46 pm
I tend to be of like mind with you there, Monica…depending on my audience and purpose of my writing. I completely agree that choosing “could not care less” is more appropriate for business writing. On the other hand, circumstances in which referencing the common phrase is appropriate often present themselves in more informal settings. Opting for the contraction is fine in those instances, provided it is use correctly!
[Reply]
Totally agree. Other sites say the incorrect way is now accepted but I’ll go to my grave thinking that people who say “I could care less” are uneducated fools.
[Reply]
Alysson Reply:
February 9th, 2010 at 8:49 pm
Agreed. Thanks to the idiocy that is George W. Bush, the word “nucular” is now supposedly accepted as correct, rather than what is actually correct – which is “NUCLEAR”. An imbecile unapologetically mispronouncing a word over and over and over again is apparently enough to render what is incorrect suddenly wholly acceptable. Who knew? I guess it worked with weapons of mass destruction, so why shouldn’t the same nonsensical right-wing approach to manufacturing the facts to fit their purpose work with language and grammar, as well…
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