Green’s Dictionary of Slang

to not care at all.

c.1895		Actionable Offenses ‘Michael Casey Exhibiting His Panorama’ (2007) [cylinder recording ENHS 30193] ‘Now I have tonight that I’m going to show to youse a panama-ra; and I hope that youse’ll all be pleased with the pictures and if you don’t, well, I don’t give a shit anyhow, turn the crank there’.
1910		in Randolph & Legman Ozark Folksongs and Folklore (1992) I 579: I ain’t got a nickel nor I don’t give a shit.
1922		Joyce Ulysses 560: God fuck old Bennett! He’s a whitearsed old bugger. I don’t give a shit for him. [Ibid.] 574: I don’t give a shite anyway so long as I get a job even as a crossing sweeper.
1934		E. Hemingway letter 15 July in Baker Sel. Letters (1981) 409: I do not give a shit for anything except to get out to Africa again.
1948		Kerouac letter 5 Sept. in Charters I (1995) 163: I don’t give a shit – just as long as eventually I make a living from my writing-work.
1949		J.H. Burns Lucifer with a Book 91: Not that I give a healthy crap.
1951		(con. 1940s) S. Longstreet Pedlocks (1971) 380: I don’t shive a git about the high-nosed brass.
1954		K. Amis letter 14 Mar. in Leader (2000) 375: Personally I don’t give a pinch of shit for old Al’s ‘stuff’.
1959		C. MacInnes Absolute Beginners 25: Young peoples in the Soviet Union and the U.S.A. [...] don’t give a single lump of cat’s s—t for the bomb.
1961		(con. 1930s) D. Behan Teems of Times and Happy Returns 158: She ups an’ looks at him out of the corner of her eye an’ says: ‘With all due respect, Mr Martin, Her ladyship doesn’t give a shite if yeh burst into flames’.
1964		H. Selby Jr Last Exit to Brooklyn 23: I just didn’t give a shit for anyone honey, let me tell you!
1967		(con. 1950s) McAleer & Dickson Unit Pride (1981) 328: Don’t get your balls in an uproar. I don’t give a good shit if you never leave.
1968		K. Brasselle Cannibals 55: They couldn’t give a crap about anyone.
1971		B. Malamud Tenants (1972) 89: Sister, I have to start my new book off and I don’t give a living shit who is slaving.
1974		D. Goines Swamp Man 145: Well, I don’t give a shit what you all think.
1975		(con. 1900s) G. Swarthout Shootist 11: He would not give a pinch of dried out shit for the lot of them.
1976		‘In The Melting Pot’ in P. Ashton et al. Our Lives (1982) 177: Me no care two shits about him.
1979		D. Maitland Breaking Out 288: The vast majority of the people couldn’t give a bloody stiff shit about it!
1982		R.M. Brown Southern Discomfort (1983) 144: Paris couldn’t give two shits.
1983		N. Proffitt Gardens of Stone (1985) 72: I don’t give a dab of wombat shit what’s good for Vietnam.
1983		S. King Christine 332: Who gives a tin shit?
1988		V. Wartofsky Terminal Justice 127: Anderson guffawed. ‘I don’t give a sparrow’s shit about that’.
1989		C. Hiaasen Skin Tight 232: Graveline won’t give a shit about them.
1990		R. Doyle Snapper 162: I don’t mind what it looks like. I don’t give a shite.
1996		P. Temple Bad Debts (2012) [ebook] No-one really gave a shit about Hoagland.
1997		C. Hiaasen Lucky You 351: Nor did he give two shits whether they carried him back to Miami or straight to Raiford prison.
1998		C. Fleming High Concept 123: Put in the romance if you want. I don’t give a shit.
1999		K. Sampson Powder 347: You’re a fucking liability! You’re don’t give a fucking shit!
2000		F. Mac Anna Cartoon City 112: I don’t give a flying sideways shite.
2005		L. Redhead Rubdown [ebook] He doesn’t give a shit what dicks like McPherson think.
2005		B. Hare Urban Grimshaw 63: Frankly, she didn’t give a shit.
2010		L. Redhead Thrill City [ebook] I don’t really give a shit about corruption.
2012		M.C. Funk ‘Spill Site’ in ThugLit Sept./Oct. [ebook] As if he gave a tin shit about ‘wrong’.
2013		J. Stahl Bad Sex on Speed 31: Nobody at IHOP gives a shit. It’s IHOP. It’s five after fucked-up o’clock in the morning.
2013		T. Black Ringer [ebook] n.p.: I sees a wee space behind a crappy old Metro that's dripping in rust. I clips the front wing as I reverses in, but like I give a shite.
2015		S. King Finders Keepers (2016) 58: Most out-of-towners don’t give a shit.
2015		L. McInerney Glorious Heresies 65: [S]ome piss-weak anecdote he couldn’t give two shits for.
2021		P Howard Braywatch 263: ‘No way. What if Sorcha looks in there?’ ‘I not give shit!’.
2021		P. Papathanasiou Stoning 72: ‘You think the government gives two shits about us out here in Woop Woop?’.
2022		J. Hannaham Didn’t Nobody Give a Shit 45: That brother don’t give no kinda shits whatsoever.
2022		I. Fitzgerald Dirtbag, Massachusetts 80: The singer sounded brash [...] couldn’t give-two-shits.