"could care less"

Arnold Zwicky zwicky at STANFORD.EDU
Sun May 24 15:36:16 UTC 2009


On May 24, 2009, at 8:04 AM, i wrote:

> Wilson's reports having first heard it used in the Army in the late
> '50s, and also that none of the recruits in his training company had
> heard it before (so that there was much discussion about in the
> barracks).  so it was new *for them* (though it became routine
> "military jargon" for them).  but of course others were using it --
> after all, the uses they first heard came from *somewhere*.

this is a partial mis-report (i should never rely on my memory).
wilson said it was new to *the recruits*, but that for *seasoned
soldiers*, it was routinely used as "military jargon".

arnold

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