Over and over the issue is raised on the incorrect use of commonly used words such as, irregardless. This was the case on a recent NPR story that greeted me as I woke from my fluffy dreamworld.
This got me to wondering why it's not a word if it's used so frequently, albeit incorrectly. Then, when I looked up how it is determined that words will be added to the dictionary, I found that this is done through usage. What? The word irregardless is used all the time, yet anal wordsmiths refuse to consider accepting its' adoption into the dictionary!
That doesn't seem right. I mean the word irregardless has done it's job by being easily accessible and applicable in many conversations. Why the snub?
Well, I discovered that one dictionary has embraced the use of irregardless, irregardless of it's official word status and that is in the Urban Dictionary. The Urban Dictionary is awesome and if you don't think so, your probably a major wenis! (Look it up.)
So, here is an excellent definition for the word, irregardless, according to Urban Dictionary:
"Irregardless: Used by people who ignorantly mean to say regardless. According to Webster, it is a word, but since the prefix "ir" and the suffx "less" both mean "not or with" they cancel each other out, so what you end up with is regard. When you use this to try to say you don't care about something, you end up saying that you do. Of course everyone knows what you mean to say and only a pompous, rude asshole will correct you."
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