Continued from Insignificant Verbiage.
It’s been fun the last few days, taking the position in a running office argument that “irregardless” is a word.
I’m well aware that it’s ridiculous. That’s precisely why it’s so much fun. When I hear people complaining in an exaggerated way — e.g. “Ughh, I hhhate when people say that!” — my tease reflex gets twitchy.
Besides, I have an even bigger gripe with the argument that something is “not a word.”
Something like “irregardless” isn’t a very accurate, respectable, or attractive word, but it’s still a unit of language and it does convey meaning — albeit rather sloppily — so it’s still a word.
More importantly, language evolves, and if we’re only ever allowed to use words that have already been established and certified by then we’ll quickly run out of names and descriptions for our constantly evolving circumstances.
It’s instructive that spellcheckers continue to highlight “blog” as a spelling mistake –amusingly, even spellcheckers built into blogging platforms.
I rely on a lot of words that didn’t exist a few years ago; I can’t communicate my ideas (therefore I can’t communicate at all) without them.
On a more basic level, making up neologisms — creating things — is funner than merely breaking the rules.
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