May 27th, 2007
Especially: is not pronounced EX-specially.
Ask: is not pronounced AXE.
Et cetera: is not pronounced ECK-cetera.
Library: is not pronounced lie-berry.
And try to remember that literally doesn’t mean figuratively. Examples:
1)
Incorrect: “It was literally raining cats and dogs!”
Correct: “It was literally raining water!”
2)
Incorrect: “I literally died!”
Correct: “I nearly died!”
Finally: Irregardless is a double negative. Don’t say it. Say either “regardless” or “irrespective,” as appropriate.
Yay! Language abuse griping! Me too!
I just want to vent again about one of my pet peeves that hit me again today as I was reading an otherwise entertaining autobiography. (Aside: should there be a hyphen between “otherwise” and “entertaining”? So much for my high horse. Anyway….) It bugs me when people tack “ness” onto the end of an adverb or adjective to form a noun when a perfectly good noun already exists. It just seems lazy. Do we need words like “humbleness” when “humility” fits the bill and sounds a whole lot better? Or “aggressiveness” instead of “aggression”? Ugh.
I also hate it when people say “I literally died,” which I hear surprisingly often. If I may humbly suggest a more appropriate substitution: “I was slightly embarrassed!” People can be so melodramatic.
Actually, after a long argument with Warren, I was chilled to the marrow of my bones to find out that irregardless means the same as regardless.
You need to track down David Cross’ bit off his his album “Shut Up You Fucking Baby” about people who use ‘literally’ wrong. “I literally shit my pants!” “Wow, what did you do with your shitty pants?” “No, man, I didn’t REALLY shit my pants, I LITERALLY shit my pants.”
Naturally I ignore everything Warren says on principal. (Just kidding – I only ignore Joe.) I concede this: irregardless is commonly used to mean regardless. It is a colloquialism. This does not change the fact that it is a double negative and anyone who has taken a grammar class or first year philosophy can explain why it is incorrect. You are certainly welcome to continue using it, and people will know what you mean – but knowledgeable people like me will continue to judge you. Harshly. We might also refuse to share our ice cream with you, you never know with us anal types.
OMG please don’t use anal and ice cream in the same sentence again. :~P