Green’s Dictionary of Slang

(orig. US) to care; usu. in negative sense, e.g. who gives a shit? or I could give a shit.

1960		H. Selby Jr ‘Tralala’ in Provincetown Rev. 3 74: They come and go and who knows the difference. Who gives a shit.
1970		D. Ponicsan Last Detail 170: Have a cigarette. Die of cancer. I almost give a cow’s crap.
1976		R. Price Blood Brothers 10: He himself could give a shit what the place could look like as long as he had that air conditioning.
1985		(con. 1969–70) D. Bodey F.N.G. (1988) 250: He gets a cheer from all of us, and he’ll probably lose a stripe for it. He could give a shit.
1995		C. Hiaasen Stormy Weather 6: Who gives a shit about illiteracy in South Boston?
1996		P. Beatty White Boy Shuffle 158: It seems like Harvard wants me to attend Harvard. I could give a shit.
2000		P. Roth Human Stain 117: I’m supposed to give a shit about some jerk-off sitting in the fifteenth row?
2005		P. Temple Broken Shore (2007) [ebook] Fuck off wankers! Don’t give a shit about jobs, do ya?
2009		L. McIlvanney All the Colours 141: ‘Who gives a shit any more?’.
2010		K. Richards Life 190: He didn’t give a shit. ‘I was out of it’.
2012		C. Ashley ‘This Town Is My Town’ in Crime Factory: Hard Labour [ebook] Nobody really gave a shit except those who lost their jobs.
2018		C. Hammer Scrublands [ebook] ‘I don’t think he really gave a shit about us kids’.
2019		S.M. Jones Lives Laid Away [ebook] ‘Who gives a shit on either count, right?’.
2020		C. Hiaasen Squeeze Me 53: ‘Did the President sound like he gave a shit?’.
2020		A. Parks Bobby March Will Live Forever 153: ‘[Y]ou’re the only polis that gives a shit for people like us’.