Disregarding “Irregardless.”

A necessary discussion of an unnecessary word.

Chapters.

1. 🔮 ⫸ THE PROBLEM ⫷ 🔮
2. 🔮 ⫸ DICTIONARIES FOLLOW USAGE ⫷ 🔮
3. 🔮 ⫸ UPHOLDING STANDARDS ⫷ 🔮
4. 🔮 ⫸ MISTAKEN WORDS ⫷ 🔮
5. 🔮 ⫸ ORIGINATION ⫷ 🔮
6. 🔮 ⫸ MEMORABLE EXAMPLES ⫷ 🔮
7. 🔮 ⫸ BIZARRO WORLD ⫷ 🔮
8. 🔮 ⫸ IRONIC ABSURDITY ⫷ 🔮
9. 🔮 ⫸ CONSTITUENT COMPONENTS ⫷ 🔮
10. 🔮 ⫸ FLIGHTS OF FANCY ⫷ 🔮
11. 🔮 ⫸ ET TU, MSNBC? ⫷ 🔮
12. 🔮 ⫸ WE CAN DO BETTER ⫷ 🔮
13. 🔮 ⫸ THE PROBLEM ⫷ 🔮

I truly wish I could begin this exploration with the blanket declaration:

The word “irregardless” does not exist.

Yet, apparently this deeply satisfying announcement would be incorrect.

As strongly as I may feel, I don’t make pronouncements about words irrespective or regardless of etymological discovery.

I do my research.

Because people continue to say “irregardless”, dictionaries include “irregardless.” Yet, by inserting the classification, ‘nonstandard,’ lexicons categorize “irregardless” as unnecessary, misconceived, and superfluous.

In short, regardless of how many times ‘regardless’ gets bastardized into its unfortunate cousin…