"Steep learning curve" is simpler: "Steep" implies to our visual imagination a hill that's difficult to ascend, so software that has a steep learning curve must be difficult to learn. Obvious! (Wrong, but obvious.)
About "I could care less": Weird Al got that one wrong. I didn't understand it as a child, when my mother used it, but I figured it out eventually: Even when voiced not as a question but an exclamation, it's clearly sarcasm. (I still love his "Word Crimes", though.) --- Bob Bridges, robhbrid...@gmail.com, cell 336 382-7313 /* Engineers will go without food and hygiene for days to solve a problem. (Other times just because they forgot.) -from "Are You an Engineer?" */ -----Original Message----- From: IBM Mainframe Discussion List <IBM-MAIN@LISTSERV.UA.EDU> On Behalf Of Paul Gilmartin Sent: Tuesday, June 21, 2022 12:27 > Excellent. Might there bee a similar explanation for the prevalent misuse of "steep learning curve?" --- On Tue, 21 Jun 2022 12:55:18 +0000, Seymour J Metz wrote: >Lots of Yiddish idioms are in the form of a question, and if a translator >misses the implied question mark, all meaning is lost. The phrase "I could >care less" is the result of applying a tin ear to a sarcastic Yiddish idiom. >The Yiddish idiom translates to either "Ask me if I could care less." or to "I >could care less?" with an implied answer of no. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions, send email to lists...@listserv.ua.edu with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
