Dear America... | David Mitchell's SoapBox

> I could care less, ... I don't want to be "that guy" and I'm not trying to be a grammar Nazi. I know this is now an idiom in the USA, and therefore it doesn't have to make sense. However ... I've now heard it said, in four different countries, that this phrase makes the speaker sound like an idiot. I know it's now just "the norm" in the USA, but I wanted to let people here know that saying this makes a bad impression. If you don't care how you sound to non USAians then don't bother. But if you're wondering what I'm talking about, David Mitchell does an excellent job of explaining "I couldn't care less" [VIDEO] I now return you to your normal programming.

But "I could care less" is a perfectly grammatical sentence, which has a semantic meaning, which, as David Mitchell explains at comic length, is the opposite of what the speaker means to say. [VIDEO]

I think we agree with each other. Words like "ain't" entering the common lexicon (usually in spoken english) is fine by me ie. Words formed out of contractions of other words/phrases, or entirely new inventions. What I mostly get riled up about are words or phrases that are just plain wrong, but that have been used so widely that some dictionaries have accepted them as correct. Eg: [VIDEO]

In the simplest case, the thing referred to is 'a think', and they're entirely equivalent :) I'd argue that this is more of an Eggcorn[1] than a malapropism, unlike your second example. "The proof is in the pudding", or the classic "Could care less"[2] are the two worst offenders I can think of immediately. [1] [LINK] [2] [VIDEO]

Aside from Apple vs Google, David Mitchell discusses this curious form of expression with graphs and what-not: [VIDEO]

It's "couldn't care less". When you say "could care less" you are endorsing the claim of American Kids Getting Dumber. If you still don't get it: [VIDEO]

"I could care less if this is open source" David Mitchell explains why this phrase makes no sense and means exactly that opposite of what you want to say: [VIDEO]

>Meanwhile, 50 million people could care less what's inside an iPad. I assume you mean ' couldn't care less'. [1] [1] [VIDEO]