irregardless, 1876 (OED: 1912)

[Laurence Horn]

At 11:59 PM -0400 7/29/10, Garson O'Toole wrote:
>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


Those benighted ignorami Ruskin and
London--didn't they realize there's no such word
as "unregardless"?  It's not in the dictionary!
What they meant, of course, was "irregardless"!

LH

>
>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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