Tuesday, December 21, 2004

Not to be an English Snob...

And I don't mean like Madonna or Posh Spice, I mean one of those people who's a stickler for language and stuff - but I kind of am and -

"irregardless" isn't a word, okay?

and for that matter, neither is "guesstimate" (because what's a guess? an estimate. And what's an estimate? a guess - okay? Just pick one)

12 comment(s):

  • sounds to me like you're being a gihugeic snob.

    By Blogger Tim, at 7:31 AM  

  • Not to be a wiseass, but I just looked them up and according to the American Heritage Dictionary, they're both considered words.

    By Anonymous Anonymous, at 7:33 AM  

  • from dictioanry.com (which credits the american heritage dictionary as the source):

    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.

    ps-i hate when people use "irregardless" too, but "guesstimate" doesn't really bother me. it's not just a regular estimate (you know, one based on SOMETHING), it's an estimate based on a guess. at least in my mind anyways.


    By Blogger Jaime, at 7:40 AM  

  • I dislike irregardless immensely. Look folks the RE in the gardless is enough. Why must we add unnecessary prefixes? Hmm? It won't make you sound any more intelligent, why? Because those of us that are intelligent know that you aren't. haha How is that for snobbery? ; )

    By Blogger nique, at 8:25 AM  

  • My irk-inducing phrase is "I could care less." I once had an AP English teacher spend a good 30 minutes teaching us the difference between "I could care less" and "I couldn't care less." I don't know what's scarier - that he had to explain this to a class of advanced English students, or that he actually used illustrations to do it.

    "See? On this scale of 1-10, this is how much you care.... if you COULD care less, then that means your current level of caring is not yet at the bottom of the scale. If you COULDN'T care less.... you're already AT the bottom...." and so on, and so forth.


    By Blogger asyl076, at 8:42 AM  

  • ILLUSTRATIONS on "couldn't care less"?!!!! I would've been cracking up so hard! This professor is certainly entertaining!

    By Blogger nique, at 10:23 AM  

  • OH MY GOSH - I HATE the "axe a question" and I also hate "idear." I'm an editor - I can barely stand when people write incorrectly - but speaking incorrectly? Argh!

    By Blogger Jenny, at 12:00 PM  

  • My grammatical pet peeve is "a whole nother."

    By Blogger Trish, at 5:09 PM  

  • Not to be too picky, but Madonna is English like irregardless is a word. (Though Microsoft Word's spell check thinks it's just fine.)

    By Blogger Michael, at 7:12 PM  

  • Or how about: "Will you take my pitcher in front of this statue?"

    By Blogger Trish, at 2:39 AM  

  • "liberry"

    *shudder*


    By Blogger Jaime, at 11:52 AM  

  • lye-berry is AWFUL

    and "pitcher" for "picture" makes me want to scream

    my dad, though, one of the smartest guys you'll ever meet says "waRshington" and "waRshing machine" - and I always ask where he gets the "R"

    And my aunt in waRshington brags about the pretty "crick" on the back of her property - every time she says that, I ask how she spells it - because I'm an English snob


    By Blogger Veruca Salt, at 12:12 PM  

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