Be assured, dear readers, I do indeed hold you all in high regard. When I post these little tidbits of wordly wisdom, don’t be fooled. I make plenty of my own vocabulary/grammar errors. If you ever see one in a post, please tell me about it, so I can correct it immediately. And if you run across a word or phrase you’re guilty of misusing, don’t take it too hard. English is a very complex language to master – even for native speakers.
Since I hold you all in such high regard, today we will discuss the word, irregardless. Let me tell you – it isn’t a word. The word to use is regardless. Actually, I guess if you used irregardless, you would really be saying ‘with regard’ since it would be a double negative. But, I digress.
For example to say, “The game will be played regardless of the weather.” is correct. To use the word irregardless is incorrect. As a matter of fact, irregardless is always incorrect, because it’s not a word. Some dictionaries say it may be a combination of irrespective and regardless. I just say it’s wrong.
Thank you for posting this! I warms my heart to hear that others are as bothered by the use of irregardless. A former boss of mine used to say it all the time, but as her subordinate, I didn’t feel quite right pointing it out. HER boss to the rescue! One day he just flat out told her “Irregardless is not a word. You’d actually be saying the opposite of what you mean when you use it, even if it were a word. In either case, stop using it.” I breathed a sigh of relief.
What a relief for you! I’ve always been embarrassed when higher-ups misuse a word. You know they would want to correct their mistake, but you also know you can’t tell them….
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Actually you probably *should* tell them. Even if it is someone “higher up”
Do it privately and quietly. Allow them to retain their dignity by pointing out a word that you yourself used to use incorrectly. But DO tell them.
You wouldn’t want someone (even a subordinate) to let you walk around with a piece of spaghetti stuck to your forehead all day would you?
Okay, how about this one?
You should revert back to . .. . …
I always mentally correct the person who says this. It is quite common. I thought revert meant going back?
Please, Dear Grammar Abbey, you must help me!
BW
Yes, BW, that’s another common one. You are exactly right that revert means to go back or to return. Just as you wouldn’t say “return back”, you wouldn’t say “revert back”.
Scream, I just don’t know if I could bring myself to tell someone, although I did correct a young preacher’s latin pronuciation in private one time. I figured if he ever preached that sermon to a couple hundred people again, he might want to be pronouncing it correctly. He’s pretty much an English nerd, too, though, so I thought he would appreciate it.
Tony uses “irregardless” JUST to get under my skin. He knows it’s wrong, but he also likes to see my reaction.
He also likes to use psuedo-Spanish phrases, like saying something is “muy tastioso”.
Speaking of foreign language abuse, one of my hotbuttons is any commercial that advertises a roast beef sandwith “with au jus sauce”. Excuse me? “au jus” MEANS “with sauce”! So what they are saying is “with with sauce sauce”. That makes me CRAZY.
etrish, I thought we already established that you ARE crazy. you don’t need to be driven there.
BTW, I didn’t say it was EASY to tell someone if they are using a word improperly, just that you could look at it is doing them a kindness. Believe me, my heart does the whole trip-hammer bit during the entire conversation.
Just browsing and came across this little gem of a site. A question for you, what do you feel is worse, under-use or over-use of commas in a sentence? I often find myself over-punctuating a sentence at an attempt to increase readability (which it doesn’t really).
I have had a couple disagreements about the words Regardless and “irregardless” with Co-Workers, Friends and finally a girlfriend. “I kept saying Regardless already means ‘without regard’ therefore the word irregardless is a double negative or in other words simply means having regard in which case you would just ue the word regard. Other Co-worker backed that one up argument settled. However when it went to the discussion between me and the girlfriend we had to take it to the books… Pulled out a dictionary
She bet me the word “irregardless” was a true word and that it could be found in the dictionary and yes she did win the bet…. The word was in the dictionary to my dismay but lo and behold the definition was hillarious…
IRREGARDLESS: (disp.=REGARDLESS) Though in widespread use, this word should be avoided in favor of Regardless. (See Regardless)
Ray – I’m pretty sure I overuse commas. Like you, to improve readability. I guess I would rather see too many commas and not enough. Too few commas cause a person to have to go back in the sentence and start over to get the correct meaning. At least with too many all you’re doing is pausing.
DJ Emir – Seems to me your girlfriend only won half the bet. It was in the dictionary, but it’s still not a word!