LANGUAGE CORNER
Could/Couldn't Care Less
It's About Caring
The article said the lawyer representing a murder victim's family made it clear that the family wasn't interested in cooperating with the media horde, "that the family could care less about exclusives." But if those people could care less, they do care some, and that's not what the writer meant. The phrase has to be negative: "could not care less." That means the family cares so little — presumably not at all — that it can't reduce the caring any further. A quick Nexis search suggests that we bat about .500 on this one, which would be great if baseball were our game.
— CJR, Jan./Feb. 1998
