5 ms·

> irregardless Sorry to nitpick, but you can just say regardless.

by dqpb 4y ago

xd 4y ago
Thanks, really! I appreciate it.. makes for a far better rant when the spelling/grammar is on point.
- fhsm 4y ago
  As you’ve expressed interest… it seems to me that the nonsense word irregardless (which has become so prevalent as to have a understandable folk sense) arose as a portmanteau of irrespective and regardless. Both are useful words to know. Perhaps the extent to which one cares about the nonsensical composition of the word irregardless speaks to the same latent disposition that drive preferences among type systems. Whether “it works but is wrong” is nonsensical is debatable. My grandfather had a llama who duck typed his sexual partners. He was not, in a Darwinian sense, a successful animal but was beloved for his easy going disposition. Anyway, word are fun.
jmull 4y ago
If you really like nitpicks: you can also just say irregardless. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/07/887649010/regardless-of-what-you-think-irregardless-is-a-word https://www.npr.org/2020/07/07/887649010/regardless-of-what-...
- CoastalCoder 4y ago
  Meh, you can say whatever the hell you want. If English actually had language police, I'd press charges against everyone who enters a conversation with "I mean, ..." or "So, ...". [0] But that's only in my little fantasy world :) In the real world, there's no agreed-upon arbiter of "acceptable" English. [0] And the "rule" about omitting final punctuation, in sentences that end with a quote, is stupid and I won't write that way. Now get off my lawn!!!
  - jffry 4y ago
    > If English actually had language police, I'd press charges against everyone who enters a conversation with "I mean, ..." or "So, ..." What about starting a conversation with "Meh" ?
    - CoastalCoder 4y ago
      > What about starting a conversation with "Meh" ? Oh dear.
- Maursault 4y ago
  > you can also just say irregardless.[1] Please stop using that word. [1] https://www.etymonline.com/word/irregardless https://www.etymonline.com/word/irregardless
  - School-Cotton 4y ago
    Notice that while “etymonline” may not like it, serious dictionaries like OED give its meaning without any value judgments. Because scientists who study language seriously understand that trying to stem the tide of random language change is futile and pointless.
    - Maursault 4y ago
      Lexicographers are neither linguists nor philologists, and any among the latter two worth their salt will tell you that "irregardless" is an erroneous and contradictory word, and further point out that whomever the neologist was that originally coined it made the mistake of double negative, such that "irregardless" must mean "with regard" as opposed to "regardless," and, as such, is superfluous.
      - huimang 4y ago
        If enough people use a word, it’s a word. Many words were formed as mistakes, “apron” and “tornado” for example. Dictionaries follow how people are actually speaking, not the other way around.
        Maursault 4y ago
        > If enough people use a word, it’s a word. Whether or not it is a word is not at issue. Any group of letters forms a word. "Hsyxff" is a word I just made up. The point is "irregardless" is an incorrect word, and no matter how many say wrong is right, it can never change the fact that wrong is still wrong. > Many words were formed as mistakes, “apron” and “tornado” for example. These words are not self-contradictory, nor were they formed "as mistakes." > Dictionaries follow how people are actually speaking, not the other way around. Dictionaries do not specify which words are spoken, they merely list words in alphabetical order along with their definitions. Dictionaries contain many words that are no longer spoken, such as overmorrow, lunting and groak, counter-examples that prove your assertion wrong.
- dqpb 4y ago
  A dictionary lists all the words people use. It does not curate the words people should use. Therefore, a words presence in a dictionary is not proof of anything other than the word has been used before.
  - School-Cotton 4y ago
    Whether people “should” use a particular word is your subjective aesthetic judgment.
    - YurgenJurgensen 4y ago
      The purpose of language is to communicate. Adding words which mean exactly the same thing as existing (shorter) words consumes cognitive resources without enhancing the language's ability to communicate. Therefore, objectively, people shouldn't use them.
      - oefnak 4y ago
        You use hard words to say simple thing. This cost a lot of mind power. Why?
        rzzzt 4y ago
        "Sometimes words, you no need use but need need for talk talk." There are prescriptive and descriptive schools of linguistics, with one trying to gently nudge/direct/drive/correct the use of a language, while the other concentrates on documenting it as it happens in the wild.
        School-Cotton 4y ago
        > There are prescriptive and descriptive schools of linguistics That’s not true. There are no “prescriptivists” whatsoever in the modern science of linguistics.
        4y ago

> irregardless Sorry to nitpick, but you can just say regardless.

by dqpb 4y ago

> irregardless Sorry to nitpick, but you can just say regardless.

xd 4y ago

Thanks, really! I appreciate it.. makes for a far better rant when the spelling/grammar is on point.

fhsm 4y ago
As you’ve expressed interest… it seems to me that the nonsense word irregardless (which has become so prevalent as to have a understandable folk sense) arose as a portmanteau of irrespective and regardless. Both are useful words to know. Perhaps the extent to which one cares about the nonsensical composition of the word irregardless speaks to the same latent disposition that drive preferences among type systems. Whether “it works but is wrong” is nonsensical is debatable. My grandfather had a llama who duck typed his sexual partners. He was not, in a Darwinian sense, a successful animal but was beloved for his easy going disposition. Anyway, word are fun.

jmull 4y ago

If you really like nitpicks: you can also just say irregardless. https://www.npr.org/2020/07/07/887649010/regardless-of-what-you-think-irregardless-is-a-word https://www.npr.org/2020/07/07/887649010/regardless-of-what-...

CoastalCoder 4y ago
Meh, you can say whatever the hell you want. If English actually had language police, I'd press charges against everyone who enters a conversation with "I mean, ..." or "So, ...". [0] But that's only in my little fantasy world :) In the real world, there's no agreed-upon arbiter of "acceptable" English. [0] And the "rule" about omitting final punctuation, in sentences that end with a quote, is stupid and I won't write that way. Now get off my lawn!!!
- jffry 4y ago
  > If English actually had language police, I'd press charges against everyone who enters a conversation with "I mean, ..." or "So, ..." What about starting a conversation with "Meh" ?
  - CoastalCoder 4y ago
    > What about starting a conversation with "Meh" ? Oh dear.
Maursault 4y ago
> you can also just say irregardless.[1] Please stop using that word. [1] https://www.etymonline.com/word/irregardless https://www.etymonline.com/word/irregardless
- School-Cotton 4y ago
  Notice that while “etymonline” may not like it, serious dictionaries like OED give its meaning without any value judgments. Because scientists who study language seriously understand that trying to stem the tide of random language change is futile and pointless.
  - Maursault 4y ago
    Lexicographers are neither linguists nor philologists, and any among the latter two worth their salt will tell you that "irregardless" is an erroneous and contradictory word, and further point out that whomever the neologist was that originally coined it made the mistake of double negative, such that "irregardless" must mean "with regard" as opposed to "regardless," and, as such, is superfluous.
    - huimang 4y ago
      If enough people use a word, it’s a word. Many words were formed as mistakes, “apron” and “tornado” for example. Dictionaries follow how people are actually speaking, not the other way around.
      - Maursault 4y ago
        > If enough people use a word, it’s a word. Whether or not it is a word is not at issue. Any group of letters forms a word. "Hsyxff" is a word I just made up. The point is "irregardless" is an incorrect word, and no matter how many say wrong is right, it can never change the fact that wrong is still wrong. > Many words were formed as mistakes, “apron” and “tornado” for example. These words are not self-contradictory, nor were they formed "as mistakes." > Dictionaries follow how people are actually speaking, not the other way around. Dictionaries do not specify which words are spoken, they merely list words in alphabetical order along with their definitions. Dictionaries contain many words that are no longer spoken, such as overmorrow, lunting and groak, counter-examples that prove your assertion wrong.
dqpb 4y ago
A dictionary lists all the words people use. It does not curate the words people should use. Therefore, a words presence in a dictionary is not proof of anything other than the word has been used before.
- School-Cotton 4y ago
  Whether people “should” use a particular word is your subjective aesthetic judgment.
  - YurgenJurgensen 4y ago
    The purpose of language is to communicate. Adding words which mean exactly the same thing as existing (shorter) words consumes cognitive resources without enhancing the language's ability to communicate. Therefore, objectively, people shouldn't use them.
    - oefnak 4y ago
      You use hard words to say simple thing. This cost a lot of mind power. Why?
      - rzzzt 4y ago
        "Sometimes words, you no need use but need need for talk talk." There are prescriptive and descriptive schools of linguistics, with one trying to gently nudge/direct/drive/correct the use of a language, while the other concentrates on documenting it as it happens in the wild.
        School-Cotton 4y ago
        > There are prescriptive and descriptive schools of linguistics That’s not true. There are no “prescriptivists” whatsoever in the modern science of linguistics.
        4y ago