irregardless, still earlier yet

[Laurence Horn]

At 1:41 PM -0700 7/29/10, Geoffrey Nunberg wrote:
>And now Larry reminds me that Ben reminded him that Motivated Grammar
>had some of these last year, and that Richard Hershberger has taken it
>back to 1795. Which leads to the question, why did it wait to become
>an Issue -- "that most monstrous of non-words," as Life put it --
>until the early 20th century?
>
>Geoff

Possibly for the same reason that the use of "infer" for "imply"
(i.e. 'to lead to a conclusion' rather than 'to draw a conclusion'),
which is amply attested in Shakespeare, Milton, Austen, Hardy, et al.
(as I mentioned a few weeks ago in another connection, citing the
extensive entry in MWDEU), only because a prescriptivist bugbear in
the early 20th century.  There were other issues involved with that
one (for one thing the latter isn't a case of "not in *the
dictionary* so there's no such word" issue and for another, there's
an issue of "infection" between "personal" and "impersonal" _infer_
as we were discussing in that early June thread), but the timeline is
somewhat similar.

LH

>
>>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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The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org