A lot of us Americans say “I couldn’t care less”

You would never hear me say, "I got an A in maths." The correct expression is, "I got an F in maths."

"The graveyard shift" comes from the person who used to have to walk the cemetery at night for security reasons to prevent grave robberies.

Herb and hour are French based so the h is silent. However, house is a germanic word so the h is still pronounced.

"It's a piece of cake" comes from the saying "Its a cake walk" which is a easy game you play at fairs to win a cake or pie. Its super easy to win a cake, hence "its a piece of cake!"

Most Americans know that "could care less" is wrong.

"Why don't they take the 'h' out and use the French style with house." Well... house isn't a French word... it's origin is German.... soo.....

The word "flammable" means that something is able to flame, the word "inflammable" means that it is able to inflame. The difference is in the base words "flame" and "inflame" which are of two different origins yet mean the same thing.

I’m American, always said “Couldn’t care less”.

As an American I can honestly say that hearing "I could care less" drives me as crazy as it does you.

I’m from NYC, we would say “I couldn’t care less” when you really don’t care. The only time I would ever say “I could care less” would be when I’m trying to do something perhaps for some one that’s might be inconvenient or requires significant effort and they complain about how or what I’m doing. They would get a sarcastic “you know, I could care less”

So Brits are confused by "hit it" / "hit the ____", but yet they use "smashing" -- which sounds much more destructive -- to mean something that is really good! (Not to mention "bloody" as a general-purpose intensifier, regardless if something is good or bad...)

The original spelling of the word 'herb' was 'erbe', so that is why people in America use the silent H. In fact, the H was only added because of the Latin word 'herba'. But also, the reason why the H is pronounced so emphatically in the UK is because during the 1800's, a lot of very low class people were dropping all their H's, so the upper class, who had been since the 1780's working on crafting their own unique accent and 'proper' way of speaking English, started to hyper pronounce their H's to combat that trend.

When we hear someone say herb pronouncing the h we think for a second that you're talking about someone named Herbert.

"Spank it" 😂 a phrase that goes into a whole different category.

when we say i could care less it is actually a passive phrase. We do say i couldnt care less.

Lol “Americans aren’t French.” No, we’re everything. 😂

“Maths” is so awkward to say though...sounds like a lisp. So much easier to just say Math.

We still say “wicked” in New England, especially around Boston. 💜

Have never heard the word “inflammable”. If I read this, I would assume it meant nonflammable.

In the USA..."I need to hit the hay" means " I need to go to sleep". To "hit the nail on the head" means you've got the idea or answer for something correct or accurately. "Hit the road" or "hit the bricks" means "Get out of here!", OR it could mean " I need to get on home" "Hit the lights" means "turn off the lights". "Hit it!" could mean "Start!" like the way a band leader might speak to his band. "He hit me up for some money" means "He asked me for some money." Hit list" means a list of people you want killed. "hit the books' means " I need to go and study (something a scholar would say), "hit the bottle" means to drink alcohol to the point of excess.

Why would anyone say "I could care less" when "I don't give a f$%&" works so much better.

Sometimes people in America Say "I'll hit you up later " which just means Like I'll call you later or I'll meet up with you later or something like that. Great Video guys! 💜

"i could care less" is usually said in a sarcastic tone. Meaning that they couldn't care less. At least here in California.

"It's a piece of cake" originated from the cakewalk contests held at social gatherings which were considered easy to win. "Graveyard shift" some say came from people watching over graves which had bells attached so that if someone was accidentally buried alive they could ring the bell and someone would be there to hear it and save them. Others say it simply means that you work late hours which are quiet and lonely, just like graveyards at night. The correct phrase is indeed "I couldn't care less" and I get super annoyed at people who say it incorrectly. "Flammable" means it can be set on fire, "inflammable" means it could potentially burst in to flames by itself (such as an aerosol can left out in the sun.) I've always said "herb" not "erb." For me, if I say something is "sick," I mean that it is disgusting like sick/vomit. When I hear the word "fanny" I think of someone's rear end or bum. We say "math" as an abbreviation for mathematics and we don't generally make abbreviations plural even if the word that we are abbreviating is plural. I don't think that I have ever said "Hit the gas," I usually say "Put the pedal to the metal." Lol I have said "Hit me with it..." which is like "Give it to me," like saying "Hit me" in Black Jack means give me another card. Much love from Texas!

Plenty of french words used in English start with a silent "h", honor and hour for example. Originally Brits didn't pronounced the "h" in herb just like Americans. The "herb" pronunciation only became common in the UK after World War II.

We also put “The” in front of University as you just say university. Or go to uni. We go to college.

"The Graveyard Shift" derives from when people were buried with a string attached to a bell above ground. If they weren't dead, they would ring the bell. The man would work there listening for a bell.

It started out sarcastic, “I could care less, but it would be hard.”

Haha, here’s the opposite to the maths/math struggle: One of my British friends said that he liked watching “sport” on TV. And my response back was: “Huh?! OK, which one?” Americans prefer to watch “sports” on TV and play at “sports” rather than “sport.” After all, there is more than one sport, haha!

In the southern US we’re bad to reply if someone asks a favor “I don’t care to” which really means “I will do that for you”

As a Kenyan-American (born and raised in the US, parents from Kenya), I have mastered both standard and American English. Once you understand the difference in idioms, vocabulary, pronunciation, and spelling, it becomes easier the more you go.

Herbe is French for grass. We don’t say house like “ouse” because house isn’t a French word

"I could care less" is only said by Americans who don't think about what they're saying. As an American, I can tell you it also irritates many of us.

I've always hated the phrase "hit the road." Great video guys

We say "I couldn't care less. " We we really don't care I think when people say "I could care less" it means we don't care that much but we kinda care.

I always thought graveyard shift was overnight because it was “dead” as in not a lot of people come in, so the store is dead empty

"I couldn't care less" IS the original way we said that in the US! It's lazy slang that slowly shifts colloquialisms into the land of nonsense. It's actually a fun trip down the rabbit hole to research the 100s of weird sayings that we have and how they have shifted over the years.

I always thought 'piece of cake' had more to do with actually cutting out a piece of cake for yourself. "Can I have a piece of cake?" 'sure' - slices and hand over- "Sweet! A piece of cake!"

4:38 OMG I did not know they mean the same! Thanks Joel and Lia!

I''m American and I know it's I couldn't care less, and it annoys me when I hear it"could", but I would say it's about 50/50% usage. Not everyone say "could."

Most people in America say "I couldn't care less" there are just a few that are numb & say it wrong.

This video made me think about a podcast that I used to hear called “way with words”... Very nice!

I couldn’t stop laughing, it felt like I was being shot every time they said maths 😂 😂 😂 😝 💀

"That's sick" is a fairly new development. Every generation has new phrases.

There is an American phrase that uses spanking --- "It's Brand Spanking New" which means the item is entirely new or recently created

Im American and I normally say it's "Nonflammable" and "flammable". "I could care less" means you're at the point where you don't care anymore.

I had a teacher who was a southerner and he said "I could care less" all the time, and I thought he was an idiot. Come to think of it, I was right. It's "I couldn't care less" and most people I know would say that.

I thought that the expression " graveyard" shift actually came from the time someone was assigned to the graveyard to make sure all was well. Look up the story about having bells attached inside coffins so that on the chance someone was buried alive, they could ring the bell for help. I've seen this written a couple times. Bizarre, surely. That's my 2 cents worth! 😉 ( another phrase that's probably confusing!)

Since I was raised to pronounce “herb” without the hard “H” sound, when I hear people pronounce the “H”, it sounds uneducated to me, like some saying “I seen that”. It bothers me.

The phrase " I could care less" is a shortening of the original phrase " As if I could care less", which is a sarcastic way of saying that there is no way that you could possibly care any less.

"I could care less" is more of a sarcastic response rather than grammatically incorrect.

As an oldster, when I was a child we used to say "I could care less..but I don't" Years later people dropped the end of the phrase.

For the record, as an American, “i could care less” has always bothered me and i never let it pass when someone does say

I freaking love this channel!!

I use wicked as a synonym for very like "that's wicked cool!" It's a new England-ism

According to Laurence Brown's "Lost in the Pond" the British at one fine did say "erbs" and English Colonists brought it over to the New World and never changed , but at some time when British people were on an anti-Franco tangent, decided to pronounce the "H."

“Spanking it” means something totally different over here

My American son used to watch only English shows (one being Peppa Pig). He developed an English accent. It happened so much here in the US (and maybe elsewhere?) that they coined a phase for it, The Peppa Effect. My son speaking with an English accent are some of the most viewed videos on my channel so it must be pretty fascinating to people.

The graveyard shift has its origins in history. When grace ribbing for cadavers was popular someone had to stand guard at the cemetery’s during the night to watch for grave robbers. People didn’t rob graves during the day so the security was done overnight hence, the graveyard shift.

In the US, many think that hearing an American pronouncing the “h” in the word “herb” is acting extremely pretentious. To hear a Brit doing the same is normal.

The h in herb is the same as the h in hour(Greek), honest(French), heir(Latin), honor(French), etc. Do Brits say those too?

As a Bostonian, I can proudly say that saying 'wicked awesome' is still alive and well here, and we see it as a staple of our Bostonianism.

The graveyard shift is the overnight shift at any job. Commonly between 11pm and 7am. It is called the graveyard shift because this shift used to only exist in graveyards. In history, there was an issue with people being buried alive by accident. The most commonly known issue I can think of is that plates used to be made of lead, and when you put sliced tomatoes on a lead plate, it absorbs some of the toxicity, causing people to pass out. They were often thought to be dead and they were then buried (note: this kind of issue is also where the idea of the wake comes from. Giving the dead time to wake up if they're not really dead.). Years later, when space for graves was limited, they would dig up old graves to reuse them, and sometimes would find claw marks on the inside of the coffin. They would then start to tie bells to strings leading into the ground and into the coffin so that if someone woke up after being buried, they could ring the bell. Naturally, if nobody was around to hear it, the bell was useless, so the graveyard shift became a thing, where someone would be there all night to listen for the bells.

Saying "spank it" could also be found quite hilarious to an American.

"Piece of cake" is a shortening of a simile: "it's as easy as eating a piece of cake." "Graveyard shift": this is the workday shift when the undead things which prowl in the night are reputed to come out of the graveyards. Normally, it begins around 10 or 11 at night and runs through until the next morning. "I could care less": this phrase first came from Jewish-American culture. In Yiddish, reversals can be used as an emphatic rather than a negative, not unlike your use of "sick" as a synonym for great, or wonderful. (And don't let's forget that lots of Yiddish-like locutions entered English from immigrants who were not perfectly acquainted with English as a language, so they got through it any old how they could.) "Flammable" vs. "inflammable": this one came from people being expert at creatively misunderstanding their way through anything. In the 1800s, materials which could catch fire were marked as inflammable. This caused a lot of accidents and injuries, because people saw the "in" and thought it was a prefix which meant not, instead of understanding that "inflammable" is something which can be inflamed, i.e., catch fire. After enough years and deaths and injuries, the United States government changed their regulations on hazardous material labeling to remove the "ïn" and leave "flammable," which was deemed less prone to fatal misunderstandings. "Herbs" vs. "Erbs": the dropped aitch is a relic of 17th-century British speech, which was preserved in America. Sometimes you will even get an old person far back in the American countryside who will pronounce the word as "yarbs." And the French thing is a complete spook etymology, and has nothing to do with _Le dejeuner sur l'herbe_ . (In French, "herbe" means lawn.) "That's sick": Q.v. "that's bad" meaning "that's very good," "wicked" meaning "very", as in "wicked fast," "badass bitch" meaning "competent or admirable woman," and so on and on and on and on and on … "Hit": good bleedin' luck with this one. It goes all the way back into Old High German, where you will find the word "schlag" which means "hit" and forty-eleven other things, including Schlag-mutter, which means "mother-in-law."

‘I could care less’ is a perfectly acceptable expression. It infers that I am capable of caring less about the situation. It’s is more shady than the other expression. It’s intention it to grind peoples gears and obviously it works.

in new england, “wicked” has been a word forever, it’s used as an adjective though meaning very or super

"I couldn't care less" is intended for a situation in which one has no emotional connection and might reasonably not be expected to care. "I COULD care less" is an intentional snub in response to something that a person expects you to be invested in. For example, if you told me you were ill or have money problems and I replied "I could care less", I've just told you that you wrongly assumed I care about you. Usually it would be used in describing a different feeling to the same situation between two people. Assume I am acquainted with Bob and Jane. " It's awful that Bob is sick, but I could care less if Jane dies tomorrow!" Versus, a devastating earthquake on the other side of the world that has no impact on my life at all...I COULDN'T care less!

In spanish our equivalence of “it’s a piece of cake” is *es pan comido* with literally means “it’s eaten bread” 🤣

First time I heard grave yard shift was in Macy’s while working as a cashier and I found it so bizarre. When my colleague explained me that it’s a round the clock shift before Christmas, I was not too happy because I couldn’t stand for so long. 😅

Flammable usually refers to a solid material which burns when exposed to direct flame. Inflammable refers to natural gas, propane, or liquids such as gasoline which will emit fumes that can be ignited accidentally by a spark or other means, without a direct flame. Fumes from these items create the potential for a flash fire or explosion.

Just wanted to say that the phrase “Graveyard Shift” originated from the late 19th/early 20th century America, when it was not always easy to tell if people were dead or not, so the undertakers would tie a string to the body before they bury it, and the string was tied to a bell, then they had someone who walked about the graveyard at night listening for the bell, then they could dig up the person.

Lia, you just said “Hit the notification button”. 🤣

We say "Go to "the" hospital" You leave out "the". We say "Go to the University" and again you leave out "the". Why is that. It does sound odd to us. But, that's ok.

The graveyard shift actually started when people were only thought to be dead and were actually alive. The graveyard shift was when someone was assigned to be sure the person didn’t wake up in the coffin and start pulling on the bell that was often tied to their finger (making them a “dead ringer”).

Love your videos, by the way. Let me hit you with this (LOL): Flammable and inflammable do not mean the same thing. If something is flammable it means it can be set fire to, such as a piece of wood. However, inflammable means that a substance is capable of bursting into flames without the need for any ignition.... The opposite of both words is non-flammable

Elwood: "It's 106 miles to Chicago, we got a full tank of gas, half a pack of cigarettes, its dark, and we're wearing sunglasses." Jake: "HIT IT!" -The Blues Brothers (movie 1980)

I was born in the US but I have been speaking with a British accent since I was 11, I'm 48 now. Two to Three years again I decided to retrain my spelling to be that of Britains. Why not I've been speaking like this "forever and a day"!

I love your channel , when will your online shop open

I read that Americans are right about math vs maths. Mathematics is an ancient Greek word and is not plural (it's just the way they structured their words) so maths would be incorrect

Martha Stewart is probably the only American who pronounces “herb” like the British. Drives me nuts! 😂

In school spelling class taught to not say "H" in the word Herb. But this was in 1950's .

"Wicked" is used alot here in Maine and through out New England....we also say "Wicked Pissah"

"I could care less." As an American, that grates my ears too! I think it comes from people not paying attention to what they're saying. Like you said, Joel, the meaning is literally in the phrase itself. Here's another one I see in written form a lot.: "I could of gone to the concert, but I didn't want to." "could OF"?? It's could HAVE, people... abbreviated as "could've"! lol

We do not say "I could care less". You may have heard the phrase said incorrectly by a few individuals, but we agree that it is "I couldn't care less."

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I think the phrase "graveyard shift" came during the time when people were wrongfully presumed dead and buried. They tied string to their hands and bells above the graves, origin to "a dead ringer", in case someone who had been buried woke up they could ring for help. There was always someone working in the graveyard at all hours and their job was to listen for the ringing and dig the people out.

Can we all just take a moment to appreciate John flicking his wrist when saying “that’s sick man”? 🤣🤣🤣

I'm an American and I can't stand when people say "I could care less" either. I agree that it makes no sense!!!!

So that’s what “fanny “means I been to the UK several times and never heard that. I have to admit the subject didn’t come. The Brit word for horny did, we were in the Wallingford area for a business meeting (from Texas). We were at breakfast at the B&B a very proper old Brit couple were at the table and having small talk, the lady ask the name of my co worker and he says “I’m Randy” I thought this lady was going to spray her tea all over the place. You guys are fun!

When you say, I could care less, the could is facetious. In other words, I could care less, but I don't.

To me "I could care less" is perfectly fine as an expression of resignation. It means " I currently care very little, and have the POTENTIAL for my caring to dwindle further." Or more simple put, "I care little and could care less".

It's stu, uh, I mean misinformed people that say"I could care less". Same for those who say "on accident" instead of "by accident". That really grinds my gears.

The phrase is supposed to be "I couldn't care less." Many, many, many people say this idiom incorrectly. As for "herb" and the missing /h/ sound, it's the same for words like honest, and hour. So, I understand the why of calling them trainers, but that one sounds SO WEIRD! And don't even get me started on jumper vs. sweater. ;)

150 years ago, some people were not completely dead before they were buried. To prevent people from dying in a buried coffin, a string connected to their wrist and the other end to a bell above ground that would ring if they started moving. This is where "saved by the bell" came from. The graveyard shift came from people hired to sit at night in the graveyard to listen to the bells.

Ello!!! Haha I’m just getting to know both you and enjoy watching your videos a lot! Not sure if anyone has mentioned that, Herb garden (no h sound) Uncle Herb (H sound) That has always bugged me! Haha

When it comes to the graveyard shift, grave diggers would work at night so as not to upset people during the day.

From the US and I realized years ago and changed the way I said "could care less" It didn't make sense to me either so I say couldn't. Interestingly enough the Weird Al song "Word Crimes" points this out too.

We say it both ways and it means the same. "I could care less" "I couldn't care less"

Hey Hey! Still catching up Legends. Gosh! So many years, so little time...🙉 I love all things about words so particularly love these vids. Joel, I would love to say "I'm a linguist." I may just put it on my resume for years of experience!