NOT TO CARE or BE WORTH A [FIG, PIN, RAP, BUTTON, CENT, STRAW, RUSH, or HANG, etc.], phr. (colloquial).—Similes of indifference; to care about a matter not even so much as to the value of a fig, a pin, or a straw. Fr. s’en battre l’œil.—See NOT WORTH A FIG.
1590. SPENSER, The Fairie Queene, I. ii. 12. He … CARED NOT for God or man A POINT. [M.]
1633. MARMION, A Fine Companion, II., i., 68. I do not CARE A PIN for her. [M.]
1709. STEELE, Tatler, No. 50. I do not CARE A FARTHING for you. [M.]
1760. GOLDSMITH, The Citizen of the World, xlvi. Not that I CARE THREE DAMNS what figure I may cut.
1833. MARRYAT, Peter Simple, I. iii. You told him that you did not CARE A FIG for him.
1848–62. J. R. LOWELL, The Biglow Papers.
| ‘Don’t fire,’ sez Joe, ‘it ain’t no use, | |
| Thet ’s Deacon Peleg’s tame wil’-goose’; | |
| Seys Isrel, ‘I don’t CARE A CENT. | |
| I ’ve sighted an’ I’ll let her went.’ |
1871. London Figaro, May 13, p. 4, col. 2. Coster Ballads, ‘Found Drowned.’ ‘Well, sir, to cut it short, she ’ad the chap—’Twos cruel ’ard on me—I don’t believe he CARED for ’er A RAP, But so it wos, yer see.’
1889. Answers, June 22, p. 49, col. 1. ‘Is it for sale?’ demanded the visitor, excitedly. ‘If it is I want it. I don’t CARE A SNAP what it costs.’
I DON’T CARE IF I DO, phr. (American).—A street phrase, meaning nothing in particular. Also a form of accepting an invitation to drink: ‘Will you peg?’ ‘I DON’T CARE IF I DO.’
1888. New York Tribune. Volapuk will never be popular in Kentucky. It contains no sentence to take the place of that classic phrase, I DON’T CARE IF I DO.
