The linguistic origin of “I could care less” lies in irony. Its standard use pre-dates “I couldn’t care less”, which was nonexistent in the lexicon until a loose-knit band of dormitory pedagogues began insisting that the former was a misnomer; the irony was further buried as a result. Yet, while the pedants have never truly known what they were talking about, the peasants still know exactly what they mean.
me, today
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Hoping assumes, at least conceptually, that the something hoped for is possible at some point in time. The mood is indicative: I hope it does.
Wishing assumes an unlikely reality at any given point in time. Hence the mood is a subjunctive one: I wish it would.
The historical reliability of the voice of the mood not withstanding, the mood expresses only mood, not objective plausibility. Moreover, irony, while detectable, has no syntactical constant:
If one responds to the question "Do you think it will rain?" with "I wish it would," instead of "I hope it does," we can assume that the speaker's employment of the subjunctive mood can be either an expression of a believed unlikelihood or indicative of the speaker's frustration with the dryness of the weather. And even the latter doesn't take into account a sarcastic tone denoting the idea that there's been entirely too much rain lately. When such a vocal inflection is recognized, context is critical.
Both real and theoretical concepts are conveyed & received probabilistically - as are matter, space and time. Theories come about when reality cannot answer its own questions, or seems increasingly unlikely to.
Kynaststraße, Berlin - 2014
