irregardless, 1876 (OED: 1912)

[Victor Steinbok]

  At this rate, I may have to stop complaining about people using
"irregardless", unless they happen to be Republicans.

     VS-)

On 7/29/2010 4:17 PM, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
>    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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