The West Wing
All season 4 mistakesMistakes
120 Hours in America: Part I3
220 Hours in America: Part II0
3College Kids1
4The Red Mass1
5Debate Camp1
6Game On1
7Election Night1
8Process Stories2
9Swiss Diplomacy0
10Arctic Radar2
11Holy Night0
12Guns Not Butter2
13The Long Goodbye1
14Inauguration: Part I2
15Inauguration: Over There2
16The California 47th0
17Red Haven's on Fire3
18Privateers0
19Angel Maintenance5
20Evidence of Things Not Seen2
21Life On Mars2
22Commencement1
23Twenty Five1

Election Day (Part 1) - S7-E16

Continuity mistake: When Bruno and Bob are poring over exit polls, they mention that Santos seems to be leading in North Dakota, and comment that it is a state that hasn't gone Democratic in forty years. While that is true in the real world, in the fictional West Wing world, it is stated in Season 4 that Bartlet won the Dakotas in his landslide reelection.

marathon69

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In Excelsis Deo - S1-E10

Question: This is as good a place to ask as any. In various US TV shows (including this one, and this episode), someone says "I could care less", when they always seem to mean "I couldn't care less", ie. they have no interest in what's going on. Surely if they COULD care less that means they actually care a reasonable amount? Is there any logic to this, or is it just a really annoying innate lack of sense?

Jon Sandys

Chosen answer: A really annoying innate lack of sense. My friends and family say the same thing all the time, and I'm endlessly trying to correct them. I think people just don't know any better and (ironically) couldn't care less that they're speaking incorrectly.

Answer: It's an endlessly annoying dropped negative, and it's been a common colloquialism for far too long. I believe it comes from an original (and now omitted and merely implied) "As if" preceding the statement. "As if I could care less." (Meaning "As if it were possible that I could care even less than I do.") But there's really no way to know.

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