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Small-Scale Question Sunday for July 5, 2026

Do you have a dumb question that you're kind of embarrassed to ask in the main thread? Is there something you're just not sure about?

This is your opportunity to ask questions. No question too simple or too silly.

Culture war topics are accepted, and proposals for a better intro post are appreciated.

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Nobody really thinks like that. It's just how it works - if you want to say there's nothing in Spanish, you say "no hay nada", because that's how you say it in Spanish. Nobody analyses it and builds philosophical foundations under it - neither native Spanish speaker nor newly learned one - people just learn how it's done in a particular language and do it. Language is not ruled by mathematical logic, it is ruled by pattern recognition. That's why people say "I could care less" - the pattern looks similar enough to the original "I couldn't care less" and they know this pattern means "I do not care", so they use it.

I could care less about people saying "I could care less", but I don't. I actually care quite a bit!

Your not trying hard enough, should of tried harder!

One of many ways British English is superior to English (Simplified) is that we do actually say "I couldn't care less".

Most people in the US say "I couldn't care less" as well. It's just that some people in the US are very bad at speaking the language, enough that the trend is noticeable.