Grammarians UNITE!

[TheOLDNewChick]

Amen.

 

[Henrietta23]

Quote:

Somebody said that on TV last night, I was laughing soooo hard!!!

Man, I wish we'd had the Internet back then:
" irregardless - 4 dictionary results

ir⋅re⋅gard⋅less   /ˌɪrɪˈgɑrdlɪs/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [ir-i-gahrd-lis]

–adverb Nonstandard. regardless.


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Origin:
1910–15; ir- 2 (prob. after irrespective) + regardless
Dictionary.com Unabridged
Based on the Random House Dictionary,

Random House, Inc. 2009.
Cite This Source
ir·re·gard·less (ĭr'ĭ-gärd'lĭs) Pronunciation Key
adv. Nonstandard
Regardless.

[Probably blend of irrespective and regardless.]

Usage Note: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir- prefix and -less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.


The American Heritage

Dictionary of the English Language, Fourth Edition
Copyright

2006 by Houghton Mifflin Company.
Published by Houghton Mifflin Company. All rights reserved.
Cite This Source

irregardless

an erroneous word that, etymologically, means the exact opposite of what it is used to express, attested in non-standard writing from 1912, probably a blend of irrespective and regardless. Perhaps inspired by the double negative used as an emphatic.


Online Etymology Dictionary,

2001 Douglas Harper
Cite This Source
irregardless

adverb
regardless; a combination of irrespective and regardless sometimes used humorously


WordNet

3.0,

2006 by Princeton University.

 

[colby318]

Venomous. That's snakes and spiders. Anything that can sting, bite, or inject a substance that causes a reaction to a body.
Poisonous. Poison ivy, oak, and other toxic things.

So, black widow spiders are not poisonous! Neither is that rattlesnake.

Colby in KY

A pet peeve of mine is people who don't use capital letters and punctuation. A fellow BYCer is guilty of that when we were emailing. I found out he's 15. Okay, he's still learning.

 

[country lady]

I agree that the English language is important. To put it in perspective, though, would you prefer to be stranded on an island with a grammarian or a carpenter?

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
Can I see a photo of each of them before I decide?

 

[waynesgarden]

Hey, I consider myself a reasonably competent grammarian and a pretty fair carpenter. Sure, I occasionally misspell a word and can't finish drywall worth a darn but I can describe what I'm building exquisitely.

Where, exactly, is that island?

Wayne

 

[PortageGirl]

Is it a warm island?

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Well, I guess I need to apologize for my grammar and spelling. Growing up, I had a really hard time learning how to spell, read and use correct grammar. I can do any kind of math problem with ease--even word problems-when I can do the problem MY way! I struggled for years with many things that are easy for MOST people. I know MANY, MANY adults and children that have much to contribute to every aspect of life and I pray that all the "GREAT, GREAT spellers, grammarians (or what ever you are PERFECT at) you will over look those of us who struggle with our imperfections! --Dixie --taking a deep breath and stepping off my soapbox!!!

 

[ninjapoodles]

Quote:
I can't balance an equation, or even my checkbook, for that matter. Drives my math-genius mother nuts.

 

[PortageGirl]

Quote:
I'm not sure what you might be apologizing for... that paragraph looks perfectly clear to me! I'm not great at sentence structure though, so someone else will have to check it too... >.> NOT!!!!!

As several people said this was all just a chance to vent and gripe, not aimed at individuals, and lots of us have also said most day to day, good faith thread entries are fine!

Now where DID I leave that red pen???