Our children don't like watching TV with my husband and me. If it's a cop show, he'll be pausing it to point out the flaws in procedures or weapons handling. ("Right. Send the detectives in suits into a hostage situation before the SWAT team." Et cetera.) For my part, I am constantly paying attention to words and how they're used. I seldom pause or shout at the screen, but last night I'd heard this mis-usage so many times in this same program that I reached a tipping point.
I found myself shouting at the TV screen, "It's COULDN"T care less!" after a character tried to express indifference about a particular situation by stating that she "could care less."
If you "could care less" it actually means you are capable of caring less. In other words, since you COULD care less, you actually DO care about whatever-it-is.
This is not one of those "brain-fart" misusages. This is people hearing it, thinking it sounds idiomatic or something, and not considering what they're actually saying because they're not paying attention to how the words are used.
To express indifference, if you are fed up, if your givadammer is busted, please use "I couldn't care less."
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