[QUOTE]Originally posted by phillips.alex
irregardless means without regard, which also means regardless. therefore, irregardless means regardless.
Oh, the state of public education these days.
The suffix "less" means without. Regardless is "without regard". The prefix "ir" is also a negative, thus "Irregardless" is a ******* word literally meaning "not without regard," or, logically, with regard.
If you have any other questions about usage of words, please ask.
Ask you?
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HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. You're too much.
Instead, let's consult the dictionary one more time:
"Irregardless"
ADVERB: Nonstandard Regardless.
ETYMOLOGY: 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.
And then there is this:
"The Third Edition of The American Heritage Dictionary states firmly that “the label ‘nonstandard’ does not begin to do justice to the status of this word” and “it has no legitimate antecedents in either standard or nonstandard varieties of English”.
And this:
"While it is certainly a commonly heard word, its usage is considered substandard because the word is illogical. "Regardless" already means "without regard," so when we add the negative prefix "ir-," we create a double negative. In essence, we end up saying "not without regard," which means, of course, "with regard"--the opposite of what we intend."
[Edited by GarthB on Oct 26th, 2005 at 10:09 PM]
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