I am almost 70 and I am not going to change my language at this stage of my life. It was correct grammar back in the day. Language changes over time. Sad you felt the need to downvote when just discussing. Keep on keeping on.
This isn’t a matter of grammar, though. It’s simply that these are two things that mean the opposite of each other. A negated sentence, that is, a sentence with the word the word “not” added to it, tends to mean the opposite of the original sentemce. Compare these two example sentences:
I like pancakes.
I do not like pancakes.
Or these two examples:
I could swim across.
I couldn’t swim across.
In the same way, the sentence “I could care less” means the opposite of the expression “I couldn’t care less”. But due to how similar they sound, “I could care less” has, for a long time, been a common mistaken way to invoke the usual expression of “I couldn’t care less”. But they are not interchangeable, as they literally mean the opposite of each other due to the difference of “could” vs. “couldn’t” (contraction of “could not”). When you say “I could care less”, you are actually saying the exact opposite of what you most likely intend.
Perhaps it helps to break down each sentence in your head, as if you had just heard them for the first time, and try to make yourself conscious of what each of them actually means and expresses at their most basic. I’m sure you will find that only “I couldn’t care less” actually expresses a sentiment of “not caring” about something, whereas “I could care less” says that you actually do care about something, but is unclear about whether you care a lot or only a little.
Sorry if I’m overexplaining here, I’m just trying to find the words that best make it make sense to you. :)
Discussed it with my wife. She agrees with you, but also said it might be a bit of a hard one if you take it literally like care less which literally caring less irregardless of could or could not. I gave up trying to correct people‘s grammar a long time ago. They don’t care anymore. They say did my idea get across to you? If so who cares. I am too old to fight the good grammar fight anymore.
I’m not the same person, I just thought it was a really good (and funny) example of someone refusing to change their beliefs despite being shown evidence to the contrary. Have a good one, skipper!
I am almost 70 and I am not going to change my language at this stage of my life. It was correct grammar back in the day. Language changes over time. Sad you felt the need to downvote when just discussing. Keep on keeping on.
This isn’t a matter of grammar, though. It’s simply that these are two things that mean the opposite of each other. A negated sentence, that is, a sentence with the word the word “not” added to it, tends to mean the opposite of the original sentemce. Compare these two example sentences:
Or these two examples:
In the same way, the sentence “I could care less” means the opposite of the expression “I couldn’t care less”. But due to how similar they sound, “I could care less” has, for a long time, been a common mistaken way to invoke the usual expression of “I couldn’t care less”. But they are not interchangeable, as they literally mean the opposite of each other due to the difference of “could” vs. “couldn’t” (contraction of “could not”). When you say “I could care less”, you are actually saying the exact opposite of what you most likely intend.
Perhaps it helps to break down each sentence in your head, as if you had just heard them for the first time, and try to make yourself conscious of what each of them actually means and expresses at their most basic. I’m sure you will find that only “I couldn’t care less” actually expresses a sentiment of “not caring” about something, whereas “I could care less” says that you actually do care about something, but is unclear about whether you care a lot or only a little.
Sorry if I’m overexplaining here, I’m just trying to find the words that best make it make sense to you. :)
Thank you for your kind and concise note.
That’s a hilarious way to say you’ve been wrong for almost a century and refuse to be correct, lmfao.
Discussed it with my wife. She agrees with you, but also said it might be a bit of a hard one if you take it literally like care less which literally caring less irregardless of could or could not. I gave up trying to correct people‘s grammar a long time ago. They don’t care anymore. They say did my idea get across to you? If so who cares. I am too old to fight the good grammar fight anymore.
I’m not the same person, I just thought it was a really good (and funny) example of someone refusing to change their beliefs despite being shown evidence to the contrary. Have a good one, skipper!