If someone says he or she could care less, then I have to ask, “How much less can you care?” If someone says he or she couldn’t care less, I know he or she means he or she doesn’t care. There is a difference.
I think the difficulty arises because of the funky construction. First, there’s the n’t meaning not, and then there’s less, which means not as much, a built-in negative. So, the phrase has essentially two negatives, which muddies the waters of clarity. (You didn’t know there were waters of clarity, did you?) Although it’s a dandy little catch phrase, it gets messed up too much, so I vote for saying, “I don’t care.” That way there’s no confusion, and I don’t blow my top inwardly.
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