irregardless, still earlier

[Geoffrey Nunberg]

On further investigation, Google Books turns up a flurry of cites from
the 1870's. Betcha Jesse is already on to this. But given the amount
of attention the word has gotten, it's curious the Wentworth cite
hasn't been antedated already.

God's laws are above human laws or wisdom, and as the spire built
irregardless of line and plumb cannot stand long. 1875

In the Prussian service all hygienic responsibility ended when a warm
hospital building was secured, irregardless of bad air. 1876

B. Goese, Esq., of London, who gave indiscriminately to every object
irregardless of its worthiness amd could not bear to destroy anything.
1873

GN

> From Google Books:
>
> "As far as my knowledge extends among the intelligent colored people
> they do not desire their children and the white children to go to
> school togehter. They want schools and are willing for the whites to
> have schools, and the democratic party is in favor of educating the
> children irregardless of race, color, or previous condition."
> Testimony of J. G. Taylor, resident of Onachita Parish, La., Dec.
> 18, 1876, in Report of the Sub-Committee of the Committee on
> Privileges and Elections of the United States Senate, Vol. 1, 187,
> p. 476. The speaker repeats the word in the following paragraph so
> this is likely not a typo.
>
> The OED's first cite is from Wentworth's 1912 American Dialect
> Dictionary, which puts the word in western Indiana; this quote
> suggests an earlier Southern origin.
>
> Geoff Nunberg

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