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#14434 01/05/01 03:31 AM
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Emoticon misconstrued. Thought you had something in your eye.




#14435 01/05/01 02:42 PM
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>something in your eye

I, regardless of everything said heretofore, have ignored this particular instance (up to this point), based on the aforementioned wink -- futhermoreover, and in the second place, I don't like to be repetitive and overly verbose regarding these egregious usage errors.

-joe (sergeant of the word police) friday


#14436 01/05/01 02:52 PM
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I, regardless of everything said heretofore, have ignored this particular instance (up to this point), based on the aforementioned wink -- futhermoreover, and in the second place, I don't like to be repetitive and overly verbose regarding these egregious usage errors.

This message has been referred to the Department of Redundancy Department.





#14437 01/05/01 03:21 PM
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Inability to accept this very useful (when used properly) word is usually symptomatic of a generic inability to fully comprehend the important difference (properly understood in most, if not all, Indo-European languages) between the logical and emphatic multiple negatives.


#14438 01/05/01 03:47 PM
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>when used properly

okay... I'll bite. what is the proper usage for a word that in all probability is a careless blend of regardless and irrespective? (irrespective of "intensifiers")


#14439 01/05/01 04:15 PM
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Hey tsuwm...you're a veteran. Have our board adjectives changed or is this the official 1200 post level marker?

I liked old hand. It sounds experienced. Veteran is usually reserved for those who are out of the fight and out of the game. NOT applicable in your case I hope.


#14440 01/05/01 04:32 PM
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The newly crowned veteran asks: okay... I'll bite. what is the proper usage for a word that in all probability is a careless blend of regardless and irrespective? (irrespective of "intensifiers")

From Merriam-Webster on-line:
.......usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that "there is no such word." There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

From AHD4 (2000):
USAGE NOTES:
.......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.

From Humpty-Dumpty:
......."The question is, which is to be master -- that's all."




#14441 01/05/01 04:44 PM
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Irrespective of the word's provenance and regardless of whether or not it is acceptable to use it, great stir, Max!

"A word means precisely what I want it to mean, nothing more, nothing less". I forget where this quote came from, but I suspect Charles Dodgson again.

You'll be moving to a VA hospital somewhere near your home, I suspect, tsuwm. Congratulations - something back for all those taxes over the years at last!



The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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...how appropriate that it should come in this thread and for this logomachy. (finally, at long last, I can apply for membership in the VFW ;)


#14443 01/05/01 06:28 PM
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to the question of proper usage, Faldage replies by quoting the usage panels...

the OED, our arbiter of the queen's english, makes short shrift of irregardless: "Chiefly N. Amer... In non-standard or humorous use" [which is why Max got away with it ]


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