Irregardless. Such a funny little word. Someone down the hall from me just said it three times, in response to something another person said. Though I am an English major (lit, not grammer), this word probably would pass right under my radar. It just so happens that Q finds this word hilarious, and comments whenever someone says it. Now whenever I hear it it makes me giggle a little bit too.
Dictionary.com defines this word as:
ir·re·gard·less ( P ) Pronunciation Key (r-gärdls)adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.
[Probably blend of irrespective, and regardless.]
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.
Ha. A 'blunder'. Blunder is a great word that is used far too infrequently. I especially like that people seem to want to use this word to sound smart. But they're not smart. They're just making a blunder. I should tell people that it's not a word at all when they say it, but I won't. It's just too funny. They think they're so darn smart...
No comments:
Post a Comment