"I could care less"

[Hoomi]

Whenever discussions like this crop up, I remember one of my favorite quotes about the English language:

"The problem with defending the purity of the English language is that
English is about as pure as a cribhouse *****. We don't just borrow
words; on occasion, English has pursued other languages down alleyways
to beat them unconscious and rifle their pockets for new vocabulary."
~ James D. Nicoll

For anyone who hasn't guessed, the censored word is a five letter term for "prostitute". The quote kind of loses something if you miss that nuance.

 

[D_B]

Don't know ...
Don't care
Don't care to know ...
Don't know to care

 

[kdove]

and THIS is "a whole nuther story"....
it supposably makes sense,
but probly not.

 

[Tanked]

Its kinda like when I was a kid, and I got in trouble. My mother would call me a "son of a !@#$%" Then get mad when I agreed.

Another one I keep hearing is "cold as hell". Isn't hell supposedly hot?

 

[goldenbear01]

here's something that never made sense to me: both "flammable" and "inflammable" mean "easily set on fire, combustible".

but isn't the prefix "in" supposed to be nugatory in meaning? for instance, the word "inapplicable" means "not applicable".

so who's the genius who decided to make "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the exact same thing? or maybe that genius was just ingenious (incidentally, how come someone can be ingenious but no one is ever "genious"?)

 

[micklock]

My favorite one is, obviously you mistaken me for someone who gives a s**t.

 

[peterbj7]

here's something that never made sense to me: both "flammable" and "inflammable" mean "easily set on fire, combustible".

but isn't the prefix "in" supposed to be nugatory in meaning? for instance, the word "inapplicable" means "not applicable".

so who's the genius who decided to make "flammable" and "inflammable" mean the exact same thing? or maybe that genius was just ingenious (incidentally, how come someone can be ingenious but no one is ever "genious"?)

Interesting one. The correct word is inflammable, where the prefix in means inside, not not. Unfortunately many people were inclined to make your mistake and believe that inflammable meant not combustible, so the longer and formally correct word has been dropped on grounds of safety.

So there's no illogicality.

 

[Cacia]

I always thought it was "I couldn't care less"

My personal favorite is (Hawaii surf-speak) Conversate

 

[Walter]

I always thought it was "I couldn't care less"

You thought correctly.

 

[maged_mmh]

And let's not forget "Orientate" instead of "Orient." That pops up quite often. Athough it has actually gained some sort of legitimacy from constant misuse, it means: To place or turn toward the east; to cause to assume an easterly direction.

Most people don't know that their going to the wrong root word when they use this.

can't we say easternize? in an analogy to westernize?

Interesting one. The correct word is inflammable, where the prefix in means inside, not not. Unfortunately many people were inclined to make your mistake and believe that inflammable meant not combustible, so the longer and formally correct word has been dropped on grounds of safety.

So there's no illogicality.