Today I heard someone say "irregardless" when they should have said "regardless."
Irregardless makes my head spin because you're negating the regard not just once but two times! Irregardless essentially means regard. Right?
Is this even a word? Am I crazy? Is this just the English major in me talking?
I think so.
From dictionary.com:
Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.
AHA! So it was a blunder!
I feel better now.
2023: Guest List Week Year In Review
10 months ago
My other pet peeve is "Athleticism". People just get lazy and put "ism" on the end of everything. The correct use of this word is "Athletic Ability." Must be to long. In fact, Athleticism is so widely used now that they did indeed add it to the dictionary a few years ago, but it hasn't been there that long.
ReplyDeleteP.S. How about "unthaw"
ReplyDeleteI had no idea athleticism isn't a word. Now that's going to bug me too! lol
ReplyDeleteUnthaw...so you're going to freeze it, right? hehe
Sheesh. People these days.
This post absolutely made me laugh, because this is something that David would say. He is always making fun of my grammar and word usage. Needless to say I have decided that I am just an Idaho hick and so I have an excuse for speaking incorrectly.
ReplyDeleteYou really need to come read my blog, but don't be surprised if language is bad!!
We really need to do something sometime, I haven't seen you in forever.