A dictionary of Confusable Phrases: More Than 10,000 Idioms and Collocations

once again • once and again
once again —once more; another time: I’ll explain it once
again, but please listen carefully this time.
once and again —repeatedly: If you don’t want to be repet-
itive, using the same word once and again you have a The-
saurus option.
one can but • one cannot but
one can but—one cannot do otherwise than: I can but be
your friend and guide and give you the benefit of my experi-
ence.
one cannot but— = one can but: I cannot but be glad that
he does not love you; yet it fills me with grief to see that this
pains you.
one can do worse than • one cannot do better than
one can do worse than —one would be well-advised to act in
a particular way: It’s interesting work, and one can do worse
than be part of the creative team.
one cannot do better than — = one can do worse than: He can-
not do better than buy the Michelin Guide to France and tour
the two- or even three-star restaurants.
one can’t be bothered • one is not bothered
one can’t be bothered —(coll.) one does not have enough
interest or energy to do smth.: Sometimes I can’t be bothered
to go to the gym, sometimes I can’t be bothered to do anything
at all.
on the trot
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one is not bothered —(coll.) is used to say that smth. is not
important to a person: “Do you want tea or coffee?” “I’m not
bothered.”
one could care less • one couldn’t care less
one could care less —(coll.) one is completely uninterested;
one does not care at all: He is a lethargic guy who drifts along
from day to day. If a bill doesn’t get paid he could care less.
one couldn’t care less — = one could care less: Though he was
great with clients, he couldn’t care less about his support peo-
ple or the follow-up work they did for him.