Why saying “I could care less” is wrong

I’ll be honest – this one gets up my nose a bit every time I hear/read it. You’ve probably heard people say they “couldn’t care less” about something, but you’ve probably also heard them say they “could care less” about something. So which one is right?

The correct way to say it is “I couldn’t care less.”

Saying you could care less implies you have a little bit of caring left in you. Saying you couldn’t care less means you’ve hit the bottom – there is absolutely no more room for you to care about the situation in question.

A good way to remember it is to use different word in place of “care.” Think of saying, “I could drive less” or “I could work less.” In these examples, there is still some driving or working to do before the speaker is done. If I said, “I couldn’t work less,” that implies it’s impossible for me to do any less work.

I hope that clears up the difference between “could care less” and “couldn’t care less”!

 

Posted in Spelling & GrammarLanguage.

 

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