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Friday, November 19, 2010

Irregardless

Irregardless


Irregardless is not a word.  Period.  I heard it THREE times yesterday.  I usually only hear it about three time per month.  I literally cringe every time I hear someone speak it.  (It's surprisingly easy to type it, though.  And to proofread it.)  If you use this word, you owe it to yourself to stop.

Here's the funny part.  When someone says "irregardless," the word they're actually looking for is "regardless."  You see, "regardless" is a synonym for "notwithstanding."  So saying "irregardless" would be like saying "notnotwithstanding."  (By the way, "notnotwithstanding" isn't a word, either.)

The worst part is when I hear it on TV, especially the news.  Newscasters are professional talkers and the only time I've ever heard them say "irregardless" is in one of their off-the-cuff moments.  In other words, the teleprompter doesn't read "irregardless," the anchors themselves actually think that the word can be found between "irrefutable" and "irregular" in the English dictionary.  (Go ahead.  Look.  It's not there.)

There is pretty much only one time that the word will actually make me laugh:

Do you know any adults with a very limited vocabulary?  Sure you do.  They say something like "defibulator" and you compliment them for saying a big word, even though it's actually "defibrillator."  Or they'll say "carburetor," but you know they couldn't spell it if you asked.  Then, that special someone will one day bust out the biggest, baddest word they know: Irregardless.  This is where you laugh to yourself because their greatest vernacular feat is undeniably and unwittingly false.

That probably makes me sound like a big jerk, but I promise, it's all in good spirits.  Irregardless is becoming more common, it seems, so I'm starting to get jaded to it.  Don't get me started on "hisself," though . . .

14 comments:

THUNDERCAT said...

omg!! That is so crazy! My sister (who is annoying as fuck most of the time) uses the hell out of that word! *irregardless* lmfao now I'ma show her this post and blast her ass!

Christine said...

Aarg...double negative built into a word? I think my head just exploded...

Rease said...

I teach ESL, so I'm used to these little word inventions, but I am shocked and sadden by how many native English speakers say "more easy/more easier". WHY? It follows the rules of the English language, there is no trick. I have a yoga video and the instructor says "This will make it a little more easier" and it completely ruins any relaxation I felt before her statement.

Jon said...

I so miss our last president. He had such an interesting and entertaining vocabulary.

Leigh said...

I hate when people use words that aren't actual words. My grandmother is the worst. Granted, she only has a 40s high school education, so I give her some leniency. It's entirely different (and completely unacceptable) for an educated adult to do it, though.

The only exception is my use of the words fantabulous and ricocculosity, because those words are awesome.

the Tsaritsa said...

I have so many of these myself, non-word pet peeves. I cringe when I hear people misuse the words "disinterested," "ironic," and there are too many others to name. People need to read more.

Anonymous said...

I HATE it when people say "exscape" and "supposebly". I can't even bring myself to say anything else about it.

Daniella Robin said...

I totally get this,
irregardless is like a double negative,
REGARDLESS PEOPLE REGARDLESS!!!!

It is not so complicated so I don't understand why people just don't get it.

I hate when people say aks. WTF is aks? Axe?

No!! Ask !!! The word is ASK!!

As in let me ask you why you are being absolutely irrefutably dumb?

Gina said...

Haha! So true. So sad. But also so true.

Sarah Ashmore said...

Ugh I feel the same way when people say conversate. The word is converse people!

Cole Garrett said...

Ahhh. I knew I wouldn't be the only one slightly offended by such bad English. Thanks for commenting, everyone.

@ Bi I used to work at Starbucks. People would sometimes say expresso, when they really meant espresso. That one always got me...

@ Sarah Agreed. Conversate is a bad un-conjugation of a word, so to speak.

@ Penny Lane The "s" in ask definitely comes before the "k." I don't see how some people miss that one.

Aniki said...

Oh my... I know what you're talking about. I'm not a native English speaker, which makes it almost worse to hear English-speaking people mangling their language.

What I personally hate even more is when adults start writing in uneducated-teenager-chatroom-style, just to be cool. Or because they can't be bothered. Or because... I don't know. I just get really aggressive when I read something like: "thts rite" or "want to speak 2 some1".
Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrr..............

THE GRAMMARPHILE said...

Hearing someone say "irregardless" = one of my pet peeves, too!

Meri said...

I'm doing a "word nerdery" month on my blog, and just recently touched on words like this. (see also, "expresso," "refudiate" etc.

here's the post:

http://merigoesround.blogspot.com/2010/11/word-nerds-unite.html


check it out and give me some more ammo! Keep up the entertaining work, I'm planning to follow your blog.

Meri

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