“I Don’t Care” As a Positive

Hello, you have A Way with Words.

Hey, how are y’all doing?

This is Jim calling from Bowling Green, Kentucky.

Hey, Jim.

And I’ve got a question for you concerning the phrase, I don’t care.

And I guess the best way to ask the question would be to give an example.

Say y’all were coming over to my house and I had a cake and I asked you if you wanted a piece of cake, you’d say, I don’t care.

So then I’d go get you a piece of cake.

Or if I went to your house and you had some beer and you’d say, hey, Jim, do you want a beer?

And I’d say, I don’t care.

You’d say, hey, what kind do you want?

It’s kind of an affirming.

It’s a yes answer.

Around here, a lot of folks, I don’t know that I hear it as much as I used to, and they will answer with I don’t care as opposed to yes.

And I know that it’s not – I’m figuring it must be somewhat of a regional thing because I’ll talk to some folks who are from someplace else, and I’ll ask them.

Do you want to, they’ll ask me if I want a beer and I’ll say, I don’t care.

Then they’ll say, do you want a beer? And I’ll say, I don’t care.

And then it turns into an Abbott and Costello skit real quick, you know.

And, you know, one of those things you just use, you don’t know that you use it, you know, until somebody points out that you use it.

And confuse somebody.

For a rambling question, is that a regional thing? And what’s the source of that?

Yeah, that’s a regional thing. You do find it in Kentucky and little bits of Tennessee and Indiana and Arkansas and Missouri and perhaps a few other places, it’s not all that common.

And partly it is because of that misunderstanding that’s so obvious there.

I don’t care, meaning I don’t mind if I do, right?

Yeah, and that’s kind of what I was wondering.

It’s kind of like a short version of I don’t care if y’all do, you know?

Yeah, that’s right.

That’s what it is.

So the verb care here basically means to mind or to object to.

Oh.

Yeah.

And so it’s just a different sense of it.

And it’s really related to other uses of care that we use every day.

When you might say, somebody says, do you want a beer?

And you’re like, I don’t care if I do, which everyone would probably take as a positive.

But if you just said the first part, I don’t care, then most people outside of that region of the country would take it as a negative.

It’s very interesting.

Gotcha. Now, where does that come from?

I mean, like I said, I hear it in a little small pocket.

I don’t know.

But the reason that you might have that natural outgrowth from the other care is just because of people who associate with each other a lot.

This is how dialects come about.

So you do have, if you look at the history of care, meaning to object or to mind or to be bothered by, it’s a real natural progression.

And you just get that natural local understanding that kind of is opaque to the outside.

It’s a really standard kind of dialect behavior for when you get this regionalism that just mystifies outsiders.

Another thing to point out about this is that the care is often pronounced kier.

I don’t kier, like that.

And that’s a real lovely local way of saying kier.

It’s the same word, it just sounds differently.

And you’re not scared either.

You’re not scared.

Yeah, that’s right.

Some of those old timers would say that.

He ain’t scared.

Almost ending with a T, right?

Right, right, right, right.

And thanks for bringing it up, Jim, because I’m quite sure we’re going to get some emails from people going,

Yeah, yeah, that’s what we say in my family.

Yeah.

I’ve always wondered.

Right, right, right.

Awesome.

Appreciate it.

Take care.

I love y’all’s show.

I don’t want to sound like that caller, but I do.

I love y’all’s show.

And y’all have a good week.

Yeah, you too.

We really appreciate it.

Call us again sometime, all right?

Jim, thank you so much.

Yes, sir.

All right, bye-bye.

Thank you, ma’am.

Take care.

Bye-bye.

Bye-bye.

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