...which may, or may not be the biggest deal on the 25th. of Dec., 2011.

Irregardless Versus Regardless

In the immortal words of The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Don't panic. Irregardless is a word, but it's not a proper word, and your student's assertion that it's in some dictionaries is a great opportunity to talk about the different kind of dictionaries and the different kind of entries in dictionaries.

Irregardless Versus Regardless

First, let's talk about irregardless. Some people mistakenly use irregardless when they mean regardless. Regardless means regard less, without regard, or despite something. For example, Squiggly will eat chocolate regardless of the consequences.

The prefix ir- (i-r) is a negative prefix, so if you add the prefix ir to a word that's already negative like regardless, you're making a double-negative word that literally means without without regard.

Language experts speculate that irregardless comes from a combination of the words regardless and irrespective and that another reason people might say "irregardless" is that they are following the pattern of words like irregular and irreplaceable. But regardless already has the -less suffix on the end, so it's not like those other words.

Thanks Grammar Girl!