My husband has a habit of saying, when he cares very little about something, "I could care less." Being an editor and writer I am anxious to inform him that his statement is incorrect and he should say, "I couldn't care less." He gives me a funny stare, as if the proper grammar is any bit important. He knows that I understand his lack of concern whether he says the statement correctly or not.
To help clarify I have located a "the caring continuum." He gets it now. Thankfully I won't have to subject his speech to anymore correction, that is, until he ends a sentence with a preposition...eeww! Actually he knows better.
Comments
Grandaughter Amy (I know that granddaughter is spelled with two d's but
I'm starting a campaign to rub out one of the d's - via popular usage.)
Lest this email and its message fade from family interest, I will say
once more that "could not care less" is a double negative. In
mathematics and human conversation, a negative times a negative equals
a positive.
I'll put together a more complete analysis of this matter in future
email.
Stay tuned, Grandad ERB