Jamie Lee Curtis: “Merriam-Webster just officially recognized ‘irregardless’ as a word”

[stewie_e]

In case you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse, Merriam-Webster just officially recognized “irregardless” as a word.😱
- Jamie Lee Curtis (@jamieleecurtis) July 6, 2020

Scream Queen and Halloween star Jamie Lee Curtis took to Twitter on Monday to share with her followers that Merriam-Webster added the word “irregardless” to its dictionary. “In case you thought 2020 couldn’t get any worse, Merriam-Webster just officially recognized “irregardless” as a word,” she wrote. Clearly the actress does not agree with the decision with many on social media sharing similar sentiments. Others however argued that “irregardless” is a word and that “complaining is tired at best and elitist at worst.”

[Merriam-Webster answers your Frequently Asked Questions About Irregardless]Is irregardless a word?
Yes. It may not be a word that you like, or a word that you would use in a term paper, but irregardless certainly is a word. It has been in use for well over 200 years, employed by a large number of people across a wide geographic range and with a consistent meaning. That is why we, and well-nigh every other dictionary of modern English, define this word.

Does irregardless mean the same thing as regardless?
Yes. We define irregardless as "regardless." Many people find irregardless to be a nonsensical word, as the ir- prefix usually functions to indicates negation; however, in this case it appears to function as an intensifier. Similar ir- words, while rare, do exist in English, including irremediless ("remediless"), irresistless ("resistless") and irrelentlessly ("relentlessly).



Kory Stamper, lexicographer and former associate editor for Merriam-Webster. Author of Word by Word: The Secret Life of Dictionaries.

COMPLAINING ABOUT "IRREGARDLESS" IS TIRED AT BEST AND ELITIST AT WORST, AND THE ENGLISH LANGUAGE WILL BE TAKING NO FURTHER QUESTIONS AT THIS TIME, THANK YOU.
- Kory Stamper (@KoryStamper) July 2, 2020

The original tweet that started it:

It was a good run, English language pic.twitter.com/ftcjLh5lmw
- David Burge (@iowahawkblog) July 1, 2020

Author

The language changes all the time, irregardless of how you feel about it. https://t.co/Xb2p7kqGDX
- Tayari Jones (@tayari) July 2, 2020



FUN FACT: Mariah Carey used the word "irregardless" in her song "A No No" from the Caution album. More than a year later, "irregardless" is now an official word in the English language. Thank you, Mariah! pic.twitter.com/BvMd0u8p1z
- 𝐦𝐚𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐨𝐧 (@floweryhillside) July 1, 2020

Poll Irregardless Poll

Is ‘irregardless’ a real word? We asked our journalists as battle rages on https://t.co/DbzbyZ8fT1
- The Guardian (@guardian) July 6, 2020

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