posted
I wish people would stop saying this. As a general rule you most certainly can; what's your alternative, exactly? If you had any power to affect the waiting time, you wouldn't be moaning about your inability to wait, you would either be starting it right now or else demonstrating that you can, indeed, wait. And if you have no such power, then short of suicide you're just plain wrong, and giving evidence of wrongness with every breath you take. What do you call the thing you're doing right now?
I can't stand it when people say things that they contradict with their very next breath!
posted
Hah, gotcha! I'm not standing it at all, I'm sitting!
"I could care less" is also a cogent point, but a lesser offense. Keelhauling, say, rather than hanging from the yardarm.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
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posted
"I just absorbed the knowledge through Osmosis."
No. You absorbed it through Social Diffusion, if anything. If it doesn't specifically involve water, it's not Osmosis.
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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posted
Except that "could care less" IS technically true most of the time (usually when someone says "I couldn't care less" there are probably a lot of things that they care less about. Things that they didn't feel motivated to mention how much they cared about one way or the other.)
Posts: 4136 | Registered: Aug 2008
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quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: Except that "could care less" IS technically true most of the time (usually when someone says "I couldn't care less" there are probably a lot of things that they care less about. Things that they didn't feel motivated to mention how much they cared about one way or the other.)
Technically true, but logically inconsistent with its purported meaning. Folks say "could care less" when they mean to say they care very little (if at all) about something. But to say they could care less does not give any point of reference as to how much they could care less. The person could actually care quite a bit about the subject.
Sure, "Couldn't care less" is most often careless hyperbole, but it's at least logically consistent with the meaning. Posts: 1831 | Registered: Jan 2003
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posted
Well, if we're going to be picky parsers, "Couldn't care less" doesn't actually tell us anything about the current level of caring, either, just that it can't be lowered. Perhaps they can't care less because they are just too caring to care any less than a lot.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
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quote:Originally posted by scifibum: Well, if we're going to be picky parsers, "Couldn't care less" doesn't actually tell us anything about the current level of caring, either, just that it can't be lowered. Perhaps they can't care less because they are just too caring to care any less than a lot.
posted
I'd have called emergency services for practically everyone in this thread since you all are apparently at the breaking point... but I don't know where everyone lives.
Posts: 1295 | Registered: Jan 2003
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quote:Originally posted by Raymond Arnold: Except that "could care less" IS technically true most of the time (usually when someone says "I couldn't care less" there are probably a lot of things that they care less about. Things that they didn't feel motivated to mention how much they cared about one way or the other.)
Technically true, but logically inconsistent with its purported meaning. Folks say "could care less" when they mean to say they care very little (if at all) about something. But to say they could care less does not give any point of reference as to how much they could care less. The person could actually care quite a bit about the subject.
Sure, "Couldn't care less" is most often careless hyperbole, but it's at least logically consistent with the meaning.
From now on I'm going to say, "I could care more" when in this situation.
Posts: 8741 | Registered: Apr 2001
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quote:Originally posted by Godric: I'd have called emergency services for practically everyone in this thread since you all are apparently at the breaking point... but I don't know where everyone lives.
posted
I take offense at all figurative language. And literal language as well. Why lose any opportunity to take offense?
Posts: 6246 | Registered: Aug 2004
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posted
I always assumed "I could care less" to be slightly sarcastic, as in "Realistically, I could probably care less, I just can't see how at the moment".
Posts: 1594 | Registered: Apr 2006
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posted
Even more cringe-worthy... "I can't hardly wait!" Top of the list for me is when people misuse anxious when they should use excited.
Posts: 204 | Registered: Aug 2001
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posted
On "a whole nother" note, is there even a term for inserting an adjective in the middle of a word?
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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posted
I've heard people say things like, "I am anxious for my vacation to start!" or "anxious for my honeymoon" These statements were made by people that were excited, happy, and looking forward to the event not filled with anxiety.
Posts: 204 | Registered: Aug 2001
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quote:Originally posted by paigereader: I've heard people say things like, "I am anxious for my vacation to start!" or "anxious for my honeymoon" These statements were made by people that were excited, happy, and looking forward to the event not filled with anxiety.
Both the OED and Webster's online list "eagerly desirous" as one of the most common usages of the word anxious. "I'm eagerly desirous for my vacation (or honeymoon)" seems very close to the synonyms "looking forward to" or "excited".
While this is substantially different from the other common use "troubled or uneasy in mind", it is nearly always quite clear from the context which meaning is intended. I'm not sure why you find it a problem that word has two different common meanings. So do lots of other English words, this isn't even a worst case example. Consider the word "cleave" which means both to split (asunder) or to stick (together).
Posts: 12591 | Registered: Jan 2000
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