OT: Irrespective vs Irregardless vs Regardless

[Craig_AR]

In a now-closed thread, a member asked, "is irrespective a word?"

Irrespective is a word.
Regardless is a word.
They mean almost exactly the same thing.

Irregardless is the non-word formed by munging the first two words together. A rather large part of the population has gotten them confused and conflated, and uses the word irregardless when they whold be using either irrespective or regardless.

 

[everallm]

I admit it, it was I, I used the word, in a sentence, grammatically correctly and in context.....

It's not my fault, society made me do it....

 

[Guitargod1985]

I have heard people say this and it peeves me. It's almost like saying "I could care less" when you mean "I couldn't care less." I could imagine GWB saying it.

 

[wheelgunslinger]

Oddly enough, munging is not the proper term for the process of mixing the two words.

 

[19-3Ben]

It also peeves me when I hear irregardless. ugh. And "could care less" gets me too.

 

[roscoe]

Hang 'em high!

 

[Aguila Blanca]

Must ... not ... get ... started ... on ... this ... topic ... :banghead:

 

[Live_Free_Or_Die]

Off topic is right!

But before the thread get's locked, I'll offer my 2 cents.

Irregardless. Use of that word drives me nuts too. However, it IS a word. Repeated common usage of the word has made it so. I was exasperated to find it in a dictionary -- Webster's I think -- about five years ago.

Another bass-ackward usage is "nauseous". People seem to want to use it when they mean "nauseated". If someone says "I'm nauseous", what they're really saying is "I make other people feel like throwing up.". But, again because of common usage, now "nauseous" means the same thing as "nauseated", per Websters. Man, that just makes me sick!

 

[Coronach]

People. Come on.