Could you (or could you not) care less about this thread?

storeyinallinanyways said:

It could just be the direct translation of the phrase from Filipino which is longer than necessary / sometimes may not make sense.

You'll see this in a lot of languages.

[snip]

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You are probably correct about this. I tried to find an online English to Tagalog translator, but could not. However, I did find the following comment about the phrase in question:

"1. "I will be the one" means that you'll be the person to do whatever is needed. For example, if you want to pay for the meal or drinks for the group, say, "I'll be the one". Or if you want to carry the bags again, simply say, "I'll be the one"."

http://www.ccmp.cc/the-philippines.html

made of stone said:

[snip]
Anohito san, in addition to the excellent ideas already given, your example of "I will be the one to go to the market place for..." sounds quite formal and rather old-fashioned in its complexity. It's something my Grandma would have said, if we had all discussed who would go, and finally she made a decision. (She prided herself on her 'correct English' bless her )

This might be because the English language teaching in the Philippines hasn't quite caught up with the present-day variety spoken in native countries; one reason might be that they're still using very old English textbooks over there.

It could also be the same as a foreigner who's learnt formal Japanese, and is greeted with looks of utter surprise over there at his or her speech. The opposite situation: a few of my Japanese friends try to use 'whom' in their written English, when a native speaker wouldn't anymore.

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I am inclined to think that the "I will be the one" formulation is simply an idiom common in the Philippines rather than a matter of formality.

As much time as I spent in the Philippines, I never got a look at one of those textbooks. For one thing, I was never in a school! Although I shopped in one of the National Bookstore locations in Manila*, it never occurred to me to have a look at an English textbook. It would not surprise me if many schools, particularly in poor rural areas, were using outdated textbooks. That sort of thing is probably common in poor countries.

http://www.nationalbookstore.com.ph/

Returning to the matter of Tagalog idioms, I can think of one that is not translated into English. For example, if you use the phrase "bahay si Juan" or "bahay sina Delacruz", they basically mean "the house of Juan and company" or "the house of the Delacruzes and company", but they would normally be translated as "Juan's house" or "the Delacruz's house." Notice that in the Tagalog example, that "Delacruz" is not pluralized. That is because Tagalog does not pluralize nouns the way that English does. See the following:

Pluralization

No offence, but I have noticed that there is a trend in America to 'save' on letters - e.g. color, neighbor, aluminum and so on and so forth. Perhaps this is just another manifestation of the fasination of letter saving?

Could you (or could you not ) care less about this thread

You are correct. This phrase is an Americanization; however when an American says "I could care less", they mean that they could care less about whatever the subject is. When learning a new language, I'm learning Japenese and Italian right now, you want to sound like you are a native speaker by learning the colloquisms but understanding what they actually mean is difficult. It is better to stick with what you have learned rather than trying to pick up on the colloquisms as you might use them in the wrong context.
Sorry I'm rather long winded.

I agree. Colloquialisms are always hard to pick up. I was talking to a Japanese Girl yesterday and I was trying to say that all my friends are silly and quite weird. She didn't understand why I was using, "Mental," in this sense, because, "Mental," means insane.

I know I am dragging this thread back from the dead, but I just found something that may or may not interest you.

It's the lyrics to the chorus of Teenagers by My Chemical Romance.

They said all teenagers scare
The living s*** out of me
They could care less
As long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me

As soon as I heard this song, I thought of this thread.

Kirie_Maiden said:

I know I am dragging this thread back from the dead, but I just found something that may or may not interest you.
It's the lyrics to the chorus of Teenagers by My Chemical Romance.
They said all teenagers scare
The living s*** out of me
They could care less
As long as someone'll bleed
So darken your clothes
Or strike a violent pose
Maybe they'll leave you alone, but not me
As soon as I heard this song, I thought of this thread.

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Thank you for pullling this one back, miss Maiden!

I have to say that since I started this thread here, I've learnt a lot from our US brothers and sisters about this phrase. Now that i've had it explained by the good folks here, i've noticed it used frequently by my American and Canadian friends, and understand it perfectly.

Go Jref!!

I wish I'd seen this thread earlier! I know it's relatively old now, but about the "could care less" phrase: I remember noticing for the first time when I was a teenager (which was in the '70s) someone saying "I could care less". It bothered me because I had to mentally add "couldn't". Since then I've heard it so many times that I don't think about it anymore, but I still think of it as a wrong way of saying "I couldn't care less".

If I say "I could care less", it sounds to my ears just as natural as "I couldn't care less", I dont know why this, is but there is also a small difference in meaning to me. I'll try to objectify it. Incidentally, I was born in 1980 and according to the above post it was popularized before my time so maybe I've simply grown up saying the wrong thing!

When I say the phrase in question, sans 'not', there is no finality to it, its idea communicates to me a further but somewhat ongoing reduction in how much you care about the thing in question. It's also colloquially used with specific reference to something in alot of cases.. like:

"I could care less how much he makes a year!"
"Honestly I could care less what she thinks of me,"

That's not to say the 'couldn't' version isn't compatible with the above phrases, but to me both work for some reason. If I say 'couldn't' the grammatical correctness is definitely apparent, however, there is more finality to the feeling. 'I could care less' seems like its part of an ongoing process by which the individual is gradually but surely losing interest and concern for the issue.

Literally, it is somewhat contradictory as some people pointed out, because it pre-supposes the person already cares a certain amount. But they're indicating that they're capable of caring even less, due in part to the circumstances, if any exist.

Here in Grand Rapids, Michigan, I hear the could version almost exclusively. Even though I am a native speaker here, the phrase angers me everytime I hear it, and I make sure to tell the speaker why.

This reminds me of the "nothing is something" argument.

Glad I dragged this thread back from the dead. There has been a lot of useage of this phrase and it didn't seem to make sense at first but, this thread has helped.