(Could Care Less is an annoying business term and is just one of the 212 Most Annoying Business Phrases Managers Effuse, Confuse, and Overuse detailed in the hilarious must-have guide for every workplace: The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room. Available right now on Amazon.)

Could Care Less

To be clear, the more popular (and correct) version of this one – couldn’t care less – would’ve made the cut of annoying phrases if not for the off-the-charts annoyance factor of could care less.

When your annoying manager smugly tells you, “I could care less,” is he or she saying they actually care a little? Are they saying they care a lot? Are they saying they care more about this than anything in the entire world?

Because, of course, that’s what we hear.

As annoying as the egotistical “couldn’t care less” sounds, at least it’s correct. When you say you couldn’t care less, at least you’re telling the rest of us exactly how you feel. You don’t care about whatever it is we’re discussing. In fact, it would not be possible for you or any human to care less about this, right?

We get it. You’re a jerk… but we get the gist.

Telling the team you could care less tells us you’re not just an ass, you’re a dumbass; and you make us question why we ever came to work here in the first place. Of course, if we quit, you’d just tell everyone you could care less.

Replacement phrases: I’m not interested; That’s not important

See also: Out of Pocket

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The 30,000-Pound Gorilla in the Room is available on Amazon