[lit-ideas] Giving A Damn

From: Jlsperanza@xxxxxxx
To: lit-ideas@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Fri, 3 Sep 2004 21:05:52 EDT
 
 

In a message dated 9/3/2004 3:41:30 PM Eastern Standard Time, goya@xxxxxxx  
writes:

There  are a couple of expressions that have always bugged me in this=20
regard.  To indicate one's complete lack of interest in a state of=20
affairs, one  can say both =93=A0I couldn't care less" and "I could care=20=
less", with  no apparent difference in meaning. The latter formulation=20
seems  grammatically incorrect, for it could be parsed as claiming  :=20
=93=A0There are (actual or possible) situations which would elicit  =
*less*=20
concern from me than the present one". But that surely  implies "My=20
degree of concern for the present is greater than nil". The  first=20
formulation, by contrast, seems to convey the more relevant  attitude=A0:=20=
" There is *no* (potential or actual" situation which  could elicit=20
*less* concern on my part=A0", in other words, "the present  situation=20
elicits the absolute minimum degree of concern of which I am  capable". =20=
Similarly, one often hears =93=A0I could give a damn/shit"  used when the=20=
obvious meaning is in fact "I could/do *not* give a  damn/shit".
I wonder if this phenomenon is related to  that of euphemism. A =
Spanish=20
friend of mine, in his mid-twenties,  has the habit of designating=20
things of which he approves or by which he  is favorably impressed as=20
"Mortal!" and/or "Brutal!" . This amuses my  Hispanic friends who are a=20=
generation or so older, so it must be a  recent development.


-----
 
I don't think the phenomenon is related to euphemism. L. Horn has an  article 
on that where he discusses "he doesn't know shit" and other "negative  
polarity items".
 
I'm not sure the _meaning_ of
 
     I could give a shit
 
is, as Chase suggests -- and the 'obvious meaning in fact', he writes,  
boldly --
 
    I could _not_ give a shit.
 
Shits (and damns) are usually _not_ valued in the culture, so, to  express 
indifference it is very likely that one may _want_ to give shit. (Freud  has a 
different theory about excrement, noting that it is something _very_  valued by 
the child -- who usually shows it to her parents as a 'work of  art').
 
'Brutal' and 'Mortal' are more or less equivalent to the American use of  
"terrific" to mean "great". I think it's more an 'irony' than a 'euphemism'. 
The  
idea is to mean precisely the opposite of what you say. 
 
Back to negative polarity, one of the characters in Mexican author  
Revueltas's novel -- El apando -- is called "Carajo" ("Carajo la miro  
fijamente") 
which seems to work in Spanish like 'a damn' or 'a shit' in "I don't  care/give 
a 
damn", or a "fig" (Some suppose that 'fig' here _is_ an euphemism  for 
"fick(en)"). 
 
Cheers,
 
JL
 
 
    


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[lit-ideas] Giving A Damn

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