What are your pet peeves re English usage?

Interesting and I dont for one minute deny the logic. But let me ask a straightforward question...Would you say

"The appointment was arranged, and I went to the bank to meet with the loan officer"?

And more importantly was the white picket fence splashed with pink?

The paint was more of a pale coral, rather like your own shell-like . . .

If you knew how properly to pronounce vitamin, you might not need to bathe with such obsessive frequency . . .

Re: "I could care less" = "I couldn't care less".

dadpad wrote:

I'm with you on this one steve. i could care less means "I care at least a small amount."

Steve 41oo wrote:

Indeed it does.

I think you're right... that caring person did care a small amount, but at some point in the past.

There's a strong implication of gossip and previous caring when the word is used. Later, after that first initial caring, the subject is found wanting. So, "I could care less" is not so much a statement of how I feel at this moment, but a considered opinion of what my view will be the next time the subject comes up in the future. I could NOT care less also refers to a future state, akin to "my cares will not change." Insert the word "any" that is implied by the negative: I couldn't care (any) less if you brought this up tomorrow.

---My mind's made up.
1 - I don't care (anymore).
2 - I could care less (if I thought about it... but I'd prefer not to).
3 - I couldn't care less (if you asked me next week).

BBC Learning English

http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/radio/specials/1535_questionanswer/page69.shtml

Mustafa asks:

What is the difference between 'I will meet you' and 'I will meet with you'?

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Martin Parrott answers:

Yes - well, firstly, well done Mustafa, well done for being really up-to-date, because of course 'I will meet with you' -- that 'with' there is a recent form, certainly in British English. It comes from American English, but I think in American English too, it's a fairly recent form.

I will meet you

There is a difference: I will meet you or I'll meet you, could mean all kinds of things. It could mean that we're going to have a meeting, and we're going to do some work together; but it could simply mean that's where we're going to see each other, and we're going to go and do something else afterwards.

I will meet with you

'I will meet with you' does imply a number of things: it implies that it's quite formal; it implies that it's very professional reasons and it implies that somehow, we're going to collaborate on something ...and that it will go on for quite a long time.

Which is the more common expression?

I'll meet you is much more common. Personally, I love these new expression, and I use 'I'll meet with you' at every opportunity. However conservative people very often dislike, and disapprove of, these new expressions which come into the language - and so I tend to be a little bit careful about who I'm talking to when I use expressions like this. I love it!

On the other hand, there are people who grab eagerly at every neologism, and even import a few themselves to show how trendy and "now" they are, and the only succeed in making themselves sound shallow and trite.

McTag wrote:

On the other hand, there are people who grab eagerly at every neologism, and even import a few themselves to show how trendy and "now" they are, and the only succeed in making themselves sound shallow and trite.

Good morning, McTag.

I hope y'all didn't take my little joke too seriously. I'm an old fart myself.

When a new nuance is invented or imported, it only enriches the language. I know that some may feel left out and I agree with you that there are collocations that fail to stand the test of time, but they work for the short time that they are alive. This is exactly how language works.

...if we were avoiding USisms.

A paraphrase of "I could care less";

I could [possibly] care less about this issue that you've raised if I really tried but it's now, so near to rock bottom now that you'll not be seeing any empathy from me.