false negatives

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:59 AM -0500 7/23/07, Joan H. Hall wrote:
>Of these [=false negatives], "so don't I" is the 
>clearest example with a geographical restriction.
>
>Compare the Midland "I don't care," in response 
>to an invitation or request, which actually 
>means 'Yes, please.' It's in DARE Volume I at 
>"care" B1.
>
Although it's far from native to me, this usage 
doesn't seem all *that* weird, given the 
proximity between (not) minding and (not) caring, 
so that "I don't {mind/care} if you..." are 
essentially interchangeable ways of refraining 
from objecting.  For some reason, the absolute 
versions--"I don't mind" vs. "I don't care"--have 
gone their separate ways in the mainstream 
dialect, so it's not too surprising that "I don't 
care" has developed or maintained a positive 
sense in Midland. In fact, the OED (_care_ v., 
4b) includes the sense
'Not to mind (something proposed); to have no 
disinclination or objection, be disposed to. Now 
only with if, though',
with glosses back to the 16th c., including

1597 SHAKES. 2 Hen. IV, I. ii. 142, I care not if I be your Physitian.
1611 FLORIO, Scrócca il fuso..a light-heeled 
trull that cares not to horne hir husband.

which seem to be direct precursors of the 
infinitival examples from the DARE cites, where 
"care not to V" = 'don't mind Ving'.  Such uses, 
of course, are not restricted to occurrence with 
"if" and "though", but that seems to be a typical 
case of dialectal resistance to syntactic change, 
and besides, we know they speak Elizabethan 
English back there in the mountains...

What's odder to me is the DARE cite from Maine (via _Down East_, 1971):

"I don't care for him" = 'I have no objection to him'

Presumably this is an independent development, 
and the entry doesn't give any indication that 
Maine speakers share the positive (polite) use of 
"I don't care" = 'I don't mind' of Midland usage, 
for which the cites are from West Virginia, 
Kentucky, Missouri, and North Carolina.  Joan, do 
you know if there's independent corroboration of 
this non-objectional "don't care for" among down 
east speakers or others?  Could it be used to 
accept an offered item ("I don't care for those 
steamers") as well?  Has anyone else come across 
this use?

LH

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