irregardless, 1876 (OED: 1912)

[Garson O'Toole]

Ben Zimmer:
> I also drew on a point made several times on this list by Larry Horn
> about pleonastic negatives of the "unXless" variety ("undoubtless",
> "unhelpless") from the 16th-17th c. With "irregardless" attested to
> the late 18th c., the connection to those words makes a lot more sense
> (rather than simply positing a blend of "irrespective" and
> "regardless").

You were wonderful on the Leonard Lopate Show. Impressive performance!

Prominent author Jack London used "unregardless" in a 1917 edition of
"Michael, Brother of Jerry":

The old man did not touch the paddle, and he was unregardless of the
lofty-sided steamer as the canoe slipped down the length of it into
the darkness astern. He was too occupied in counting the wealth of
tobacco showered upon him.

http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/Michael/
http://london.sonoma.edu/Writings/Michael/michael2.html

However, the word "unregardless" was changed to "unregardful" in a 1919 edition:

http://books.google.com/books?id=KVsdeSiB1pMC&q=unregardful#v=snippet&


Famed art critic John Ruskin employed "unregardless" in 1880:

… to find even in all that appears most trifling or contemptible,
fresh evidence of the constant working of the Divine power "for glory
and for beauty," and to teach it and proclaim it to the unthinking and
the unregardless …

http://books.google.com/books?id=bMlNAAAAYAAJ&q=unregardless#v=snippet&

Garson

On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 4:35 PM, Benjamin Zimmer
<bgzimmer at babel.ling.upenn.edu> wrote:
> ---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Benjamin Zimmer <bgzimmer at BABEL.LING.UPENN.EDU>
> Subject:      Re: irregardless, 1876 (OED: 1912)
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> On Thu, Jul 29, 2010 at 4:25 PM, Jesse Sheidlower <jester at panix.com> wrote:
>>
>> A much earlier Southern _irregardless_, posted here a few
>> years ago by Bonnie Taylor-Blake:
>>
>> 1795 _City Gaz. & Daily Advertiser_ (Charleston, S. Carolina)
>> (1796) 23 June 3 But death, irregardless of tenderest ties,
>> Resolv'd the good _Betty,_ at length, to bereave.
>
> Also reported by Richard Hershberger, giving the whole stanza:
>
> http://motivatedgrammar.wordpress.com/2009/08/31/irregardless-has-a-posse/#comment-3152
> City Gazette (Charleston, S.C.), June 23, 1795
> “The Old Woman and Her Tabby” (final stanza):
> But death, irregardless of tenderest ties,
> Resolv’d the good Betty, at length, to bereave:
> He strikes–the poor fav’rite reluctantly dies!
> Breaks her mistress’s heart–both descend to the grave.
>
> I mentioned this cite yesterday when I was on "The Leonard Lopate
> Show" talking about "invented" words (starting at about 9:30, after I
> finish bloviating about "bloviate"):
>
> http://beta.wnyc.org/shows/lopate/2010/jul/28/ben-zimmer-refudiates-fake-words/
>
> I also drew on a point made several times on this list by Larry Horn
> about pleonastic negatives of the "unXless" variety ("undoubtless",
> "unhelpless") from the 16th-17th c. With "irregardless" attested to
> the late 18th c., the connection to those words makes a lot more sense
> (rather than simply positing a blend of "irrespective" and
> "regardless").
>
> --Ben Zimmer
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

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