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Katie: Alexa, I saw a lot of your hair in my ski hat. A lot.

Alexa: So why are you so mad! I'm the one who is losing my hair.

Katie: I'm your best friend. You should have told me what was going on. Like I would care if you have hair or not!

TV Series: Alexa and Katie P.S.: Alexa is losing her hair because of the chemo.

Shouldn't the bold part be "Like I would care if you had hair or not!"? I couldn't understand why Katie used "would".

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  • Are you asking about the use of like or would? The only difference between what you quote and what you suggest is that you've dropped like from your suggestion. But the final word in your question refers to would instead. If you're saying it should be would care, ... well, it already is. – Jason Bassford Jan 17 '19 at 20:23
  • I want to know why "would" is used? Is it kind of hypothetical and 2nd conditional sentence? – sami Jan 17 '19 at 20:29
  • Okay. But when you ask shouldn't it be (something), you now (after another edit) repeat the quoted sentence exactly. You don't mean that's what you think it should be, do you? It's the phrasing of your question itself that I'm confused by. If I interpret your comment correctly, you should simply say: In the bold part, I couldn't understand why . . . – Jason Bassford Jan 17 '19 at 20:52
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This is a common construction.

Like I would care if you have hair or not!

could be rephrased as

Your statement indicates that I would think differently of you if you were to lose your hair. This is not the case.

Sometimes a statement beginning with "like" or "as if" is intended to show that some presumption or implication is not true. See the fourth definition of "as if" here.

For example:

Q: "Will you drive me to the airport?"

A: "Like I have time to drive to the airport!"

Here, the first person is assuming that the second person has the time to take them to the airport, and then asking whether the person will be agreeable. The second person is implying "I don't even have time to go to the airport" rather than just saying "No, I don't want to do that".

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  • Thanks you @Tashus. As you said, sometimes a statement beginning with "like" or "as if" is intended to show that some presumption or implication is not true, can we say that was a hypothetical situation or is hypothetical situation something different from the sentences comes after "like" or "as if"? – sami Jan 18 '19 at 16:36
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    @samsam I don't think I would quite call it a hypothetical situation. A hypothetical situation used to say "let's assume that something is true, and then discuss what might happen as a result". In this case, the other person seems to think that something is true, and the person who says "like..." or "as if..." is saying that it is actually not true. Does that make sense? – Tashus Jan 18 '19 at 16:45
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    @samsam For example: Q: "Will you drive me to the airport?" A: "Like I have time to drive to the airport!" In this example, the first person is assuming that the second person has the time to take them to the airport, then asking whether the person will be agreeable. The second person is saying "I don't even have time to go to the airport" rather than just saying "No, I don't want to do that". – Tashus Jan 18 '19 at 16:47

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