Use of the word "very"

Nearly all.

I don't think that jgmacg guy knows shit.

 

True. But I try to make up for it with good manners, an affable personality and a knack for backwoods dentistry.

 

Touché, good sir. Touché indeed.

 

Thank you. Thank you. A thousand times, thank you.

It is that simple. Language matters.

 

if it makes you feel any better, i like all you freaks.

 

Reading some of these posts makes me wish I clicked on this thread sooner.

 

No less an authority than William Safire declared that "could care less" and "couldn't care less" are both acceptable.

Actually, most language gurus appear to be firmly on the side that "could care less" is perfectly fine, especially in verbal form. There are always the literalists, but such a strict stance seems ridiculous given the sarcastic tone of the original "I couldn't care less."

"I could care less" of course, is ironic: "I could care less (but it'd be difficult to see how)."

There are some who suggest that the British phrase "I could not care less" was transformed into "I could care less" by Yiddish influence (it's similar to "I should be so lucky!") in the 1960s.

Those who object to "I could care less" may have been influenced by the standard grammar-obsession of the 1950s.

 

now that's what i'm talkin'. that just gave me a monstrous warm fuzzy.

 

Which is why I tagged it a "pet peeve" when I cited it. Certainly it's common in verbal form, and readily understood, when the comic emphasis of the speaker makes clear the ironic intention of the phrase. Conveying sarcasm or comic intention in print - especially in a newspaper - is terrifically hard, and is one of the recurrent problem areas with our interview subjects.

And whether or not Safire supports a particular construction is as much a matter of his personal taste as my peeves and crotchets are mine. No less an authority than Safire was wrong about the Iraq war - so maybe he's wrong about this.

Part of the problem here is young writers and speakers adopting the bastardized phrase before understanding the rules by which language operates. As an old geezer, I'd grant Safire the right to make his choice between the one construction and the other. Too often though, younger, less experienced writers race to violate the rules without having first mastered them. To master the craft in this case would mean to understand the intention, construction and setting in which both versions of the phrase might be used and then to consciously choose between them. I'd argue that JD was acting out of long habit rather than discernment.

That the phrase is a junior high school-caliber cliche further argues against its use.

 

Can you name a better arbiter of the living language -- who also works in our field -- than Safire? Doubtful.

Of what caliber is the original cliche? There are also theories that the phrase is derived from an early 20th century idiom, "I don't know anything about it, and I care less," which predates, "I couldn't care less" (1940s).

 

Safire's opinion is still just that, opinion, no matter where in the pantheon he resides. That he authorizes the passage into convention of any given word or phrase is as often about the overwhelming weight of common usage as it is about syntactical correctness.

And if you're going to argue that the phrase "I could/couldn't care less" isn't a cliche, regardless of its origin, you'll be fighting out of a crouch.

Do you disagree with the premise that writers learn the rules of language before breaking them?

 

JD, borderline autism? you want to know what's going on with someone's brain chemistry and you want to understand the biological process? we don't need to go to psychologists.com or neurologists.com or psychiatrists.com for the answer.

good editors and writers care about their work and the product. it's having passion for what you do. others, like jamcg, have expressed it more eloquently. it's the reason writers reread/edit their feature story over and over and look at each sentence - sometimes each word - to make it better. we don't have treat everything as a neurological issue. you don't need to be obsessive compulsive to care deeply about your work.

i don't know your background. you could be an effin' stud at a 300k paper. but these two sentences you wrote blew me away:

maybe it's time your start looking at the edits more closely or talking with the editor about why he/she made a change. it will help you become a better writer and editor. it's quite possible you've never worked for a good story editor. but they're just not looking for misplaced commas. they see the holes in your story. they find faults with your structure. they make you make another phone call and fill in the gaps. they improve the story. i appreciate it when an editor pushes me.