Today we’re continuing with our newest feature, Word Knots, where we look at common situations involving words that are often confused or misused. 

We primarily use two highly recommended sources: The Dictionary of Disagreeable English by Robert Hartwell Fiske (Chicago: Writer’s Digest Books) and Usage and Abusage by Eric Partridge (New York: W.W. Norton).

Rather than take a stern ‘grammar police’ approach we try to keep it light and in each installment point out examples of semantic confusion that should be considered “must to avoid.”

From Partridge:

Irregardless

Solecistic for regardless. Using irregardless, a nonexistent word,  is a sign of a shoddy speaker, a third-rate writer, a thoughtless thinker.

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So Partridge (the self-described “Grumbling Grammarian”), identifies this as being related to a solecism, which is (according to Merriam-Webster) “an ungrammatical combination of words in a sentence.”

Let’s look at the Merriam-Webster Collegiate Dictionary definition for regardless:

regardless

adverb

despite everything

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Example:

A storm was threatening, but we decided to go shopping regardless.

Regardless of the risk, we ventured out into the dark and desolate street.

The use of “irregardless” is widespread in conversational contexts and especially on social media, where content isn’t checked for correctness. Although it’s doubtful that you’ll see it used on reputable websites or in printed publications, it’s prevalent enough to be addressed.

Remember: “Irregardless” is not a word.

Word choice is important, which is another reason for checking your work for accuracy to ensure that your intended meaning is clear.

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