When I, in England, say "I couldn't care less", does it mean the same as when an American says "I could care less"?

Zbeckabee

Some discussion follows on this link -- however, YES...the attempt is the same. A tin ear for stress and melody, and an obliviousness to the principles of discourse and rhetoric, are important tools of the trade for the language maven. Consider an alleged atrocity committed by today's youth: the expression I could care less. The teenagers are trying to express disdain, the adults note, in which case they should be saying I couldn't care less. If they could care less than they do, that means that they really do care, the opposite of what they are trying to say. But if these dudes would stop ragging on teenagers and scope out the construction, they would see that their argument is bogus. Whatever the origin of I could care less -- and it's as likely to have to been confusion about negation as sarcasm -- by now, it's just an expression. And as Eric hints, grammar anti-mavens may also sometimes try to make us believe something false just by asserting it. (c) Colloq. phr. (I, etc.) couldn't care less: (I am, etc.) completely uninterested, utterly indifferent; freq. as phr. used attrib. Hence couldn't-care-less-ness. (d) U.S. colloq. phr. (I, etc.) could care less = sense (c) above, with omission of negative. With a first citation a mere 20 years later. The OED does tell us that (I, etc.) could care less is a "colloq. phr." -- but so is (I, etc.) couldn't care less. The only difference is that (I, etc.) could care less is a "U.S. colloq. phr." http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/001182.html Nov 22 10, 7:27 AM

Baloo55th

The Brit version is somewhat more logical, implying one is already at the bottom level of caring. I've not seen it much in US contexts, and at first assumed it was a typo. An alternative Brit expression is "I couldn't give a tinker's", with or without 'damn' or 'cuss' after 'tinker's'. This implies one's level of caring is at the same as the effectiveness of a tinker's curse (but spelled 'cuss'), i.e. virtually zero. Why 'give' I don't know. Nov 22 10, 9:52 AM

darkpresence

I first noticed this 20 years ago when I lived in the US and asked was it shortened from "I could care less, but I don't", which does make some kind of sense. Nov 24 10, 5:19 PM