[Ads-l] could care less (1954)

[Ben Zimmer]

Back in '05, I found an example of the idiom "could care less" (meaning
"couldn't care less") from Sep. 1955:

---
"This Morning . . . With Shirley Povich," Washington Post, Sep. 25, 1955,
p. C1
The National League clubs have always shied from pitching left-handers
against the Dodgers, but Casey Stengel could care less about the Dodgers'
reputation for beating southpaws.
---

Reported on Language Log:
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002063.html
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/002068.html

Mark Liberman has antedated that to Jan. 1954:
http://languagelog.ldc.upenn.edu/nll/?p=37374

---
Chilliwack (B.C.) Progress, Jan. 6, 1954, p. 2, col. 1
He received the most indifferent treatment which a government department
can hand out. He hasn't heard from the department since. Apparently they
could care less.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/18531150/could_care_less/
---

--bgz

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org