This phrase meaning “can’t be bothered”, seems to be gaining popularity. Here’s an example received today:

“Dude! You’re proposing a revolutionary model of human evolution and you can’t be arsed to check your spelling? No wonder everybody turned down your paper.”

(Incidentally this was from a Leftpondian, albeit one that hangs out with quite few Brits. )

I don’t remember it being used before about 10 years ago.

I’m also assuming it’s a London thing.

What do we think?

gib

Truth is, I regularly channel a little old lady from London with a decidedly dirty mouth :-)

Hey, gib!

Look! I’m stalking you!  :coolhmm:

The expression was included in the 2006 draft additions to the OED; they describe it as “chiefly Brit. and Irish English,” so Rightpondian (no surprise) but apparently not restricted to London.  Earliest cite is from 1988, so relatively recent.

Edit: In this old thread, OP Tipping reports its use in Australia also.

Dr. Techie you are a star. Your link also mentions “can’t be fucked” (still used here) and “can’t be fagged”, which i can vaguely remember along with “can’t be faffed”.

Hi eversbane!

Eversbane is of course the Leftpondian i quoted in my OP. He’s possibly here to check that i stet what i erroneously assumed to be a typo. In his original text he actually wrote “can’t be arsed to check you spelling”. It’s a Texas thang, apparently.

I’m astonished the OED’s earliest quote is 1988, since it’s the matter of seconds to Google a quote 20 years earlier from a very well-known book, Hunter Davis’s authorised biography of the Beatles from 1968 (see here) - the snippet view is utterly uninformative, but the initial search result page gives the phrase:

If they can’t be arsed awaiting [sic- Z] for me, I can’t be arsed going after them. So I
sat down and watched telly.”

This matches my belief that I’ve known the phrase for a very long time.

(btw, it would be my bet that a good percentage of the readers of this forum own this book - I know I do ...)

Zythophile - 06 June 2009 08:00 AM

I’m astonished the OED’s earliest quote is 1988, since it’s the matter of seconds to Google a quote 20 years earlier from a very well-known book, Hunter Davis’s authorised biography of the Beatles from 1968 (see here) - the snippet view is utterly uninformative, but the initial search result page gives the phrase:

If they can’t be arsed awaiting [sic- Z] for me, I can’t be arsed going after them. So I
sat down and watched telly.”

This matches my belief that I’ve known the phrase for a very long time.

(btw, it would be my bet that a good percentage of the readers of this forum own this book - I know I do ...)

The phrase suggests an image of “can’t be bothered to get up off one’s arse” to me.

I’ll just add that the textspeak acronym “cba” gets 10 entries on UD, while a google search of “i cba to” yields over 50,000 google hits.

Oh, and “i cba 2” = 12,400 ghits.

jointgib - 05 June 2009 11:19 AM

Dr. Techie you are a star. Your link also mentions “can’t be fucked” (still used here) and “can’t be fagged”, which i can vaguely remember along with “can’t be faffed”.

Hi eversbane!

Eversbane is of course the Leftpondian i quoted in my OP. He’s possibly here to check that i stet what i erroneously assumed to be a typo. In his original text he actually wrote “can’t be arsed to check you spelling”. It’s a Texas thang, apparently.

I’m not checking up on you. You provided a link to a site concerned with etymology. Had to click it.

eversbane - 06 June 2009 09:29 PM

jointgib - 05 June 2009 11:19 AM

Dr. Techie you are a star. Your link also mentions “can’t be fucked” (still used here) and “can’t be fagged”, which i can vaguely remember along with “can’t be faffed”.

Hi eversbane!

Eversbane is of course the Leftpondian i quoted in my OP. He’s possibly here to check that i stet what i erroneously assumed to be a typo. In his original text he actually wrote “can’t be arsed to check you spelling”. It’s a Texas thang, apparently.

I’m not checking up on you. You provided a link to a site concerned with etymology. Had to click it.

I know, i was just projecting some of my shame at “correcting” you text.

Cool board though eh?

I first became aware of I can’t be arsed some 15 years ago when I heard a few people using the phrase in my locale (south coast of England). In fact the first person I ever heard use it was a Scot who had just relocated to Portsmouth from London and I recall the phrase vividly because I remember my wife asking whether I had ever heard that construction before.

Unless memory is messing with me, this phrase has been in use in Australia since my childhood in the seventies and eighties.