Howard Winter <piclist@mit.edu> wrote:

> Incidentally (sorry for fraying the thread) I never understand why
> Americans, expressing "I don't care" say "I could care less", when
> clearly they don't mean that.  Brits say "I couldn't care less". 
> I wonder when it got reversed, Stateside? 

    Well, many Americans -- and all American copyeditors, as far as
    I can tell from the evidence in newspapers and magazines -- say
    "couldn't".  The "could" version DOES seem to be used only by
    Americans, though. 

    The phrase originated in England in the early 1940s; the
    American misconstruction has been popular here since the 1960s.
 
    Some people insist that the American usage is meant to be ironic
    (as in, "Like I could care less.  As if!"), but anyone who's
    heard an American say it knows that the inflection is never
    sarcastic; I think we just mis-heard the phrase at some point
    and haven't stopped mispronouncing it since.

    -Andy

    P.S.  Which is more correct:  "English is fun" or "The English
    are fun"?

=== Andrew Warren -- aiw@cypress.com
=== Principal Design Engineer
=== Cypress Semiconductor Corporation
=== 
=== Opinions expressed above do not
=== necessarily represent those of
=== Cypress Semiconductor Corporation

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