rob@ptsfa.UUCP (Rob Bernardo) (06/21/85)
In article <696@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP> mmar@sphinx.UChicago.UUCP (Mitchell Marks) writes: >> From: mm@vaxine.UUCP (Mark Mudgett) >> Actually, "I could care less" is derived from the saying, "I know little and >> could care less." This refers to a subject about which I am uninformed, >> and about which I care even less than I know. The saying has been confused >> with "I couldn't care less," which means that I couldn't care less than I >> do about the subject; implying that I care not at all. > >That seems like a very plausible story for ONE of the times it entered >the language (the written language in particular). But I hope MM isn't >falling into the trap that 'where it comes from' = 'what it REALLY is' or >'how it actually functions'. That doesn't work, even with completely >established, well-attested etymologies. Speakers re-analyse all the time, >and it wouldn't be astonishing for 98% of all speakers to understand some >locution in a way that entirely defies the etymology. Thank you for making very clear a common confusion between the etymology of a word or expression and its current meaning. I recall an exquisite example of this confusion during a discussion a few years ago on whether the US should grant amnesty to draft resisters during the Vietnam War. One person protested, "'Amnesty' comes from the Greek word meaning 'forget.' [It does it fact.] I don't think we should FORGET that these bums broke the law and evaded the draft, so we shouldn't give them amnesty." -- Rob Bernardo, San Ramon, California ihnp4!ptsfa!rob {nsc,ucbvax,decwrl,amd,fortune,zehntel}!dual!ptsfa!rob