"It is the time you have wasted for your rose that makes your rose so important." - The Little Prince

“I could care less”. It’s fairly common, most people don’t really give it a second thought. However, there are a hand-full of people, smart people even, who object to this phrase. Beyond that even, they vehemently oppose it. They say that it should be “I couldn’t care less.” If you could care less, then you do care, they say. But I don’t know if I can say that’s true. There are many applications that could be used in saying “I could care less.” 

     It could be sarcasm. “I could care less” would mean that you actually couldn’t. This isn’t unlikely. Consider this: when presented with some information that we aren’t concerned about, a response of “I care.” is not uncommon. Of course, this is used sarcastically, and sends the message strongly that we don’t care. “I could care less.” could be the same type of sarcastic phrase. So much of this relies on enunciation though, and the pronunciation most commonly used doesn’t lend itself to this explanation. Why? Perhaps people read the phrase, and misinterpreted how it was meant to be spoken. Perhaps they heard it used correctly and, again, failed to understand the inherent sarcasm, thereby speaking it as if it were meant to be taken literally. Of course, the intelligence of the average person is not very high; it’s only natural the incorrect pronunciation would, over time, dominate the correct one. Aside from using “I could care less” with sarcasm, what else could it mean? Maybe it’s a form of belittling short hand. Try this example on for size:

Person A: “I won the spelling bee.”

Person B: “So what?”

Person A: “Well that’s rude. It doesn’t seem like you care at all. Could you care less?”

Person B: “I suppose I could care less, but I really don’t care much at all.”

In this instance, “I could care less” obviously means that you don’t care very much. Saying “I could care less” draws attention to the fact that it would be difficult for you to do so. So this exchange is shortened to the form that our attention is presently focused on.

Or consider this: saying “I could care less.” could be a form of “Don’t press your luck.” As though you were saying “I’m being polite now, but be aware that I will become annoyed with you if you don’t stop.” Like so:

Person A: “Family Circus was really funny today.”

Person B: “Let’s talk about something else.”

Person A: “How dare you! Family Circus is important to me!”

Person B: “Look, I don’t care about Family Circus, but unless you want me to care even less, shut up about it.”

     Conversely, it could be a respectful way of informing someone that you aren’t very interested in what they have to say. Yes, you could care less, but you aren’t going to be rude and will hear the person out.

Person A: “The Jeffersons was a better show than All in the Family, and here’s why…”

Person B: “I find you to be an interesting speaker. I never watch television, so I could care less about this subject, if it was anyone else talking, but let’s hear what you’ve got to say.”

     This one isn’t too likely, as the emphasis and context would be almost completely in opposition to the way it’s usually used, and “I would care less” seems more natural, but one never knows.

     The problem with all of this is… the information is practically useless. I can’t enlighten people who are opposed to “I could care less” with it, as it’s still used every day in the incorrect sense, and thus is no better for having the potential to be an appropriate statement. I can’t share it with those who use “I could care less” incorrectly, because it’s more complex than it’s worth. I have to convince them that what they are saying is literally correct, but spoken erroneously, they’ll inevitably (unless they’re too slow to follow what I’ve said so far) come back with “But if it means the same thing, what difference does it make how I say it? Tomato, tomahto.” Then I have to tell them it actually doesn’t mean the same thing, jumping three hurdles to get back to where we started. It’s a break down and build up situation, and that’s just not worth it. And I can’t tell the people who use “I could care less” correctly… they already know.