give a damn

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FATE91

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Hello! Please help me with the expression "give a damn". If i say I don't give a damn it means I don't care?
 

emsr2d2

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Hello! Please help me with the expression "give a damn". If i say I don't give a damn it means I don't care?

Yes, that's exactly what it means!
 

TheParser

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Hello! Please help me with the expression "give a damn". If i say I don't give a damn it means I don't care?

***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good afternoon, Fate.

(1) Kindly remember that Americans still consider this a rude word.

(2) If you say this to your boss, you will probably not have a job the

next day.

(3) In the 1960's, I became angry and told some people to shut their

damn mouths. My boss told me never to say that again -- or....

(4) In 1939, this word was said for the first time in an American movie.

The people in the audience were shocked!!!

(5) Today if you say it, many people will think you are rude.

(6) So some people say, "I don't give a DARN!" ("Darn" is not considered

"bad.")

(7) My advice: Don't use "damn" or even "darn." And, of course, never

say , "I don't care" to your boss!

P. S. Nowadays, many Americans say:

I couldn't care less!

If you say this to someone, it will make that person very angry, too.

So you shouldn't say that, either!!! Don't say anything!!!

***** Have a nice day!
 

bertietheblue

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***** NOT A TEACHER *****

Good afternoon, Fate.

(1) Kindly remember that Americans still consider this a rude word.

(2) If you say this to your boss, you will probably not have a job the

next day.

(3) In the 1960's, I became angry and told some people to shut their

damn mouths. My boss told me never to say that again -- or....

(4) In 1939, this word was said for the first time in an American movie.

The people in the audience were shocked!!!

(5) Today if you say it, many people will think you are rude.

(6) So some people say, "I don't give a DARN!" ("Darn" is not considered

"bad.")

(7) My advice: Don't use "damn" or even "darn." And, of course, never

say , "I don't care" to your boss!

P. S. Nowadays, many Americans say:

I couldn't care less!

If you say this to someone, it will make that person very angry, too.

So you shouldn't say that, either!!! Don't say anything!!!

***** Have a nice day!

'Damn' is only a very mild profanity in the UK, although it's profane enough for me to tell my 8 year-old off when he exclaims 'Damn it!'[should I put a full-stop here? :-D] You might even say 'damn' is something of a euphemism for another four-letter word.

Are Americans perhaps a bit more hung up about profanities with religious connotations, given it's a much more religious society than the UK? But then the fact that it was uttered onscreen at all in 1939, when prudish censors in the US wouldn't even let a clothed husband and wife sit on the same bed without the man keeping a foot on the floor, suggests that it's a fairly mild expletive there too, doesn't it?

Oh, and I should say 'Darn' is a USEng euphemism for 'Damn' but not used in GBEng.
 

FATE91

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Thanks very much for replies:)Really appreciate them. It was very interesting to know about the history of the word, and don't worry I am not to tell it to my boss!:)
 

TheParser

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***** NOT A TEACHER *****

WHO? The President of the United States of America.

WHAT? Used "that word."

WHEN? Yesterday.

WHERE? At the White House.

WHY? He was angry about the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

HOW did he use it? He reportedly said:

"Plug the ---- hole!"

(Sorry for the ----. Because of my age, I still do not like to say or even write "that word.")

The fact that the TV stations and newspapers in the States would

consider his statement as "news" shows that the shocking power of

"that word" still lives on.
 
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