Caring - A lesson on relative amounts thereof

[Mathermune]

"I could care less"

A phrase used (incorrectly) by people when what they actually mean is "I couldn't care less"

Say there is thread on, oh I don't know, forum renown and that thread does not interest you in the slightest, you don't care.

When you reply with "I could care less" all you are doing is demonstrating that you actually do care in some way. Even if it's only a little bit, because there is an amount lower than what you currently care.

What you actually mean is the opposite, that you don't care, you could not care less. The opposite I might add, is the only indicator of how you're feeling excluded by telling us you could care less.

"I couldn't care less"

Much better.

In before "I could care less about this thread." Obvious. You'll have to do better, probably by critiquing the grammar in the rest of my post because my logic is flawless.

Thanks for reading.

[Krelar]

I could care less ,and I'm going to start doing so right now!

[Mathermune]

I could care less ,and I'm going to start doing so right now!

If this results in nothing more than people the world over caring less about this issue then I suppose that works too, at least it's closer to the actual meaning.

There was a really loud obnoxious woman on the phone in front of me at subway today. "I COULD CARE LESS" she said. Over and over. Being loud on the phone while ordering a sandwich is rude enough but hand a half sword-izing the phrase was the limit. She was lucky not to get a severe, and I mean severe dirty look.

As an internet tough guy I had to say something here rather than real life.

[KingOfCheese]

"I could care less, but barely. Indeed, only enough less to have not commented at all."

This might be more accurate.

"I couldn't care less" - conveys the point via exaggeration. But for those obsessed with truth and accuracy, "I could care less" is technically more accurate--if not specific enough to make the point.

But then again, I don't care all that much. Just enough, when weighed against my current attention span, to post this.

[Darkrok]

Doesn't "I couldn't care less" = "tl;dr"? Or would that be "I couldn't care less while still posting"?

[pleistocene]

Could care less about what you have to say, since you not everyone would agree with the usage of this.

[Musouka]

I could care less.

[Dribble]

It's all a mute point anyway.

....

[Inferno346]

I'm not sure... my sister used to say this a lot and I'm pretty certain it was always meant ironically. She definitely knew the difference between could and couldn't.

You could amend your statement to "A phrase used (ironically) by people when what they actually mean is 'I couldn't care less'" and I would agree with it. I'm sure there are some users of this phrase who don't actually know what they are saying, but certainly not all users.

[Talzor]

I believe David Mitchell argues the case rather expertly.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=om7O0MFkmpw

[Gizeh]

"I could care less, but barely. Indeed, only enough less to have not commented at all."

This might be more accurate.

"I couldn't care less" - conveys the point via exaggeration. But for those obsessed with truth and accuracy, "I could care less" is technically more accurate--if not specific enough to make the point.

But then again, I don't care all that much. Just enough, when weighed against my current attention span, to post this.

Yes, "I couldn't care less" is an exaggeration, but not of "I could care less". It is an exaggeration of "I don't care".

However "I could care less" is synonymous with "I don't care all that much". Thanks for providing the latter as example in your post.