What are your pet peeves re English usage?

JTT writes: "And what's your point, McTag? In AmE, people don't use bonnet or petrol or many of the other words that BrE uses. That doesn't make those BrE words wrong."

What has this got to do with the price of fish?

Petrol and Bonnet are just simply names given to things, and it is not surprising that these differ around the world.

The expression "I could care less" implies that a person does NOT find the subject in question at the bottom of his/her list of things to care about.

However, "I couldnt care less" implies that it IS at the bottom of that list.

What dont you understand?

JTT: Their relative positions on the "I don't care" list have nothing at all to do with this issue, Mr Ellpus. Both are grammatical, both are English idioms, both are correct, both are in full use and both are completely understandable.

These are the only issues that have any bearing on the two phrases.

Mr Ellpus:
I have never heard an English person say "I could care less", unless they are using sarcasm, and even then it is extremely rare.

JTT: That clearly illustrates that the phrase has found A use in BrE, ergo, it is part of BrE, albeit, not a big part.

Oh, by the way JTT, when I next hear someone saying "I couldn't care less", I will put them right and use Google as my point of reference.

I will also tell everyone I know that all food should only be cooked using McDonalds and KFC recipes.

JTT: Let me help you to get your knickers untwisted, Mr Ellpus. Perhaps you mistakenly believe that I'm stating one form is better than the other, that BrE should adopt AmE patterns. Is this what you mean by the reference to McDonalds & KFC?

Well, I assure you Sir, that if this is your belief, you are mistaken. BrE is BrE; any changes that do occur because of the influences of AmE will come no matter what anyone says and vice versa. Such is the way of language change.

I prefer the Australian/British usage. "I couldn't care less" simply means that I can't be bothered to begin to be worried about it. For example, "I couldn't care less who wins the Superbowl if the Rams aren't playing." The American usage doesn't make sense to me.

Clary: Obviously JTT couldn't care more.
I could care less, because it seems as if a completely cockeyed phrase is gaining ground because nobody is thinking what it means. Lord Ellpus has summed it up in exemplary fashion, as is his wont (and that isn't won't).

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. Listen to how the two versions are pronounced: [...] The melodies and stresses are completely different, and for a good reason. The second version is not illogical, it's [sarcastic]. The point of sarcasm is that by making an assertion that is manifestly false or accompanied by ostentatiously mannered intonation, one deliberately implies its opposite. A good paraphrase is, "Oh yeah, as if there were something in the world that I care less about."

Clary wrote:

Obviously JTT couldn't care more.
I could care less, because it seems as if a completely cockeyed phrase is gaining ground because nobody is thinking what it means. Lord Ellpus has summed it up in exemplary fashion, as is his wont (and that isn't won't).
quote]

It's precisely because I do care, Clary that I don't allow these language bigots to spread falsehoods about how language works. Bigotry normally thrives where ignorance lives. Once you've heard the truth, you can, of course, choose to remain ignorant, if that is your wont.

CGEL: For many American speakers the expression "I couldn't care less" has lost its negation and the expression is now "I could care less", still with the idiomatic meaning "I do not care at all". For these speakers, "care less" is no longer an NPI {negatively-oriented polarity-sensitive item]; "could care less" has become an idiom with a negative meaning (approximately the opposite of its literal meaning)

<b>This is not an uncommon development</b>; it is seen again in the development from "I don't know beans about it" --> "I don't know anything about it" to "I know beans about it" with the same meaning.

<Ellpus backs away quietly, with fixed smile and slight nod of head>

<Ellpus backs away quietly, with fixed smile and slight nod of head>

Lord Ellpus wrote:

<Ellpus backs away quietly, with fixed smile and slight nod of head>

See Clary, you too can be saved. Go and sin no more child!

There's hope for ole McTag too.

"...Ich entsichere meinen Browning", I believe was the origin for that.

McTag
I write of course from a standpoint of deplorable ignorance :wink:

Quote:

McTag
I write of course from a standpoint of deplorable ignorance :wink:

Finally, finally we concur, McTag. [double wink]

I pronounce 'wont' with a long o, but 'sloth' and 'troth' stay sort. (In case someone's doing a survey. )

Merry Andrew wrote:

'sloth' and 'troth' stay sort. (In case someone's doing a survey. )

I say 'em the same way as Andrew. Definitely for "slothful", the "o" is short where I come from.

Do readers of this thread say wont, troth and sloth with long o or short? I prefer long. In particular sloth, which historically comes from slow+th and sounds more slothful.