If You Think That, I Could Care Less

Verbal Pet Peeve Time!

If you think that I don't have any pet peeves, then you have another thing coming. And that right there is my first pet peeve of this post.

The initial (and in my mind, correct) saying is a grammatical play on words and should be "If you think that, you have another THINK coming." What kind of "thing" do people think that is going to replace the original thought? Well, a new thought would be a good guess, right?? And to make a play on the word "thought," you could call it a "think" - which is actually listed in the dictionary as an informal noun, btw. I know most people say "thing" and just about everyone gets the point when they hear it that way, so maybe I shouldn't let it bother me so much. Well, if you think that it possible, then you've got another think coming!

Next Pet Peeve:
Every time I hear Beyonce's Put a Ring On It, I cringe. I'd like to say that this is because I am way too cool for catchy pop songs. Nope, that's not it. I'll willingly admit that the "Wuh, oh, oh... Oh, oh, oh's" make me sing along and bop around a little while I'm driving to work. It's when she sings "I could care less what you think" that gets me all cringe-y with pet peeviness.

I hear this phrase all the time. "I could care less about the Super Bowl" or "Politicians could care less about what you think." People. It's "COULDN'T care less." When you say that you could care less about something you are indicating that there is some level of caring there. You are indicating that it is possible for the level of caring to be decreased. On the Caring Continuum that ranges from complete and utter indifference all the way up to complete obsession, you are falling somewhere in the middle. Y our bitingly sarcastic tone would indicate that you fall on the lower end, but yet your words are telling me that you DO care. Again, this is a commonly used phrase that people readily understand so I shouldn't let it bother me. However, I really truly could care less.