I could care less vs. I couldn't care less

[Haihao]

Hi Uncle Canadian,

You were just too quick to detect my 'miswording'. Does guy necessarily refer to a male? Seriously in a language sense but unseriously in reality. I dunno, but it matches my avatar anyway, a naive boy, right? How can I say... well, I kinda feel like a 'nephew' to you all, except Alan though, I'm afraid should be a 'grandnephew'... Sorry! Alan. Oh, when I called you 'uncle', I did put some sense of 'succor' in it, like Uncle Sam...

My sincere apology for the rubbish and recklessness.

haihao

[canadian45]

"Guy'' usually refers to a male and "gal" to a female. However, when a group of women are together, one of them sometimes refers to the rest of them as "you guys". "Gal(s)" is never used for (heterosexual) males, except maybe as an insult to their masculinity.

I don't believe "unseriously" is a real word, although my dictionary lists "unserious(ness)" as words. It is better to use not seriously.

[Yankee]

Hi Haihao

I agree with Canadian that 'unseriously' is not a word which would typically be used, however I liked the way you used it. It added a nice balance to the sentence you wrote.

I'd just like to make sure you understand that writing 'dunno' is simply writing 'don't know' the way it often sounds in spoken English. It's similar to writing "Djeet?" instead of "Did you eat?" and is extremely informal in written English.

I'm surprised that Uncle Canadian missed that.
_________________
Amy
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ESL teacher, translator, and a native speaker of American English

[Haihao]

Hi Amy,

Always a million thanks. I really love it...! But by the way, just one more question for informal English, (you know now I have to practise the informal in formal here in Japan). I heard of such an expression as 'What do you got?' Is it informal like wanna, gonna, kinda, dunno, etc., or belonging to other categories such as 'I could care less'. Ohh, I know it's so unimportant and trivial, but I want to know and put them in order... Also, is it better not or no big deal to use them in written English? Thank you.

haihao

[Torsten]

Hi Haihao, judging by the way you write in English I'm sure you know that 'What do you got?' is 'incorrect'. Grammatically correct versions would be 'What have you got?' and 'What do you have?' or 'Have you any idea?' (just to give you another example of what structures are possible)

When it comes to determining what is correct/incorrect or formal/informal, it's always best to observe where you find a particular phrase. Let's take your example 'What do you got?'. Where did you hear that question? Who said it? People often think they have to learn a certain version of English because they want to speak 'correctly'. That's not true. To the majority of all ESL learners 'correct English' is not the purpose. It's a means to achieve their purpose. Their goals might be the following:

• to get a better job
  
• to earn a higher income
  
• to start their own business
  
• to meet people from around the world
  
• to travel to other countries
  

etc. Only a tiny fraction of all learners are interested in grammar rules and correct/incorrect English. What I'm saying is this: you should find English speakers who want to emulate or be like. Then listen to them as often as possible. There are so many audio materials available. Get them and start listening to them. Let's say you want to become a medical doctor. What's the best way of learning how a succcessful medical speaks? Listening to successful medical doctors every day.
At this point you might ask yourself 'What's the role of ESL teachers then?' As you listen to native speakers you will have a lot questions related to the differences between the rules you learned at school and the real world. That's where 'ESL teachers' (I don't like the term 'teacher' though.) come into play. They can give you direction, orientation and share additional information that will help you speed up your learning process.

Let me know what you think.
Torsten
_________________
Test Of English for International Communication
TOEIC Preparation & TOEIC Vocabulary

[Yankee]

[Haihao]

Dear Torsten and Amy,

Thank you very much for your heartfelt comments on my English learning, which were really impressive, inspirational and beneficial, and providing such a valuable opportunity for me to bring forth my feelings and thoughts about my study. I realized I had every reason to refrain myself from pouring everything out, considering the difference in ages, experiences, authorities, etc., but I would like to try my best to put them in as honest a way as possible this time to make the best of this opportunity if I may.

It was on such a scene as in a U.S. hospital with doctors taking over a patient from paramedical personnel that the expression ‘What do you/we got?’ (What kind of patient have you/we got?) came across into my ears for the first time. It might sound a little funny but the truth is since then this expression has just kept bringing its every impact on me, for from which I found out a revealing phenomenon that I could and should no longer treat language or linguistics as we did mathematics. It has seemed to me that languages are ‘living beings’ with much more flexible bodies or rules like us human beings, just as we need much more lawyers than laws because law case is not as distinct and straight as math problems or ‘0/1’ digital spheres.

My purpose or interest is trying to know the real English world. To me, ‘correct English’ is but a part though very important of the whole while under-every-situation-used English is everything. I had quite a few ESL friends back in the States, who had learned English for years but unfortunately many of them told me that they still had difficulties in real communicating and friends-making with native Americans because they ‘talk funny’, which I think could let thousands of ESL people lose their confidence and ‘stand out’ of the native circles.

For my part, I want to try my best to get closer to the ‘kingdom’ by emulating every possible way the natives perform in every possible situation as Torsten indicated. This could inevitably run a risk to take in some ‘incorrect’ English but I think it’s worth it because I don’t think it’s the best policy to simply turn away from ‘bad English’ and head for ‘good English’ indiscriminately. IMO the important thing is how to rein both the ‘bad’ and the ‘good’ in a perceptive and perspicacious way for every different situation so as to get into a higher realm of genuine concinnity. I would prefer ‘be English’ to ‘do English’ thus I am always eager to know the essence of the language but not the word in its surface value, just as the phrase ‘What do you/we got?’ has shown up to me the possibility of a language as well as the images or pictures natives always hold and have behind the scenes.

Oh, my goodness, I think I should have put it to an end well before now but I would like to thank you so very much again for your every consideration for me and I would be very happy to hear as many instructions and advises as possible from you as well as from other English teachers (I am all ears, you know. ).

Yours very respectfully,

Haihao