One of my pet peeves is when people say “I could care less” when they really mean “I couldn’t care less”.
What bothers me is that the two phrases are opposites, and the incorrect usage flips the meaning on its head. The speaker is saying the opposite of that they mean. They mean to say “I don’t care”, but when they use the phrase incorrectly, they’re actually saying “I do care”.
It’s a sign that the speaker is being careless with their words, and the listener is suppose to ignore what they’re saying and think the opposite. It’s like saying “I don’t love you” when I mean “I love you”. I don’t think society would be as forgiving for that mistake.
I’m especially peeved when I hear the incorrect usage from professional writers and journalists. They should know better.
And yes, I could care less about this. Really, I could. It’d be better for my mental health too.
Hi, I'm Greg. I'm a cofounder of Killer Aces Media. We publish community blogs like 