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"Irregardless" | by RadScholar | 2000-07-15 05:46:36 |
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RE: | by quark | 2000-07-15 06:50:32 |
| RE: |
by orc4hire |
2000-07-15 07:34:34 |
| American Heritage Unabridged says:
"The label 'Non-Standard' does only approxiamte justice to the status of 'irregardless.' More precisely, it is a form that many people mistakenly believe to be a correct usage in formal style, but that in fact has no legitimate antecedents in either standard or nonstandard varieties. (The word was likely coined from a blend of 'irrespective' and 'regardless'.) Perhaps this is why critics have sometimes insisted that there is 'no such word' as 'irregardless,' a charge they would not level at a bona fide non-standard word such as 'ain't,' which has an ancient genealogy."
quark wrote:
>The OED says:
>
>irre'gardless, a. and adv. Chiefly N. Amer.
>[Prob. blend of irrespective and regardless.]
>In non-standard or humorous use: regardless.
>1912 in Wentworth Amer. Dial. Dict.
>1923 Lit. Digest 17 Feb. 76 Is there such a word as irregardless in the English language?
>1934 in Webster (labelled Erron. or Humorous, U.S.).
>1938 I. Kuhn Assigned to Adventure xxx. 310, I made a grand entrance and suffered immediate and complete obliteration, except on the pay-roll, which functioned automatically to present me with a three-figure cheque every week, ‘irregardless’, as Hollywood says.
>1939 C. Morley Kitty Foyle xxvii. 267 But she can take things in her stride, irregardless what’s happened.
>1955 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. xxiv. 19, I don’t think like other people do and irregardless of how much or how little dope would cost me [etc.].
>1970 Current Trends in Linguistics X. 590 She tells the pastor that he should please quit using the word ‘irregardless’ in his sermons as there is no such word.
>1971 M. McShane Man who left Well Enough iv. 96 The sun poured down on Purity irregardless of the fact that it received no welcome.
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RE: | by gopher | 2000-07-15 10:20:53 |
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