Sunday, April 22, 2007

Word Of The Day

dishabille (dɪsə'biːl, -'bɪl):

the state of being in undress. reflective of the fact that summer is here!


the un-word of the day, for udayan's etymological edification:

irregardless:

Chiefly N. Amer.

In non-standard or humorous use: regardless.

1912 in WENTWORTH Amer. Dial. Dict. 1923 Lit. Digest 17 Feb. 76 Is there such a word as irregardless in the English language? 1934 in WEBSTER (labelled Erron. or Humorous, U.S.). 1938 I. KUHN Assigned to Adventure xxx. 310, I made a grand entrance and suffered immediate and complete obliteration, except on the pay-roll, which functioned automatically to present me with a three-figure cheque every week, ‘irregardless’, as Hollywood says. 1939 C. MORLEY Kitty Foyle xxvii. 267 But she can take things in her stride, irregardless what's happened. 1955 Publ. Amer. Dial. Soc. XXIV. 19, I don't think like other people do and irregardless of how much or how little dope would cost me [etc.]. 1970 Current Trends in Linguistics X. 590 She tells the pastor that he should please quit using the word ‘irregardless’ in his sermons as there is no such word. 1971 M. MCSHANE Man who left Well Enough iv. 96 The sun poured down on Purity irregardless of the fact that it received no welcome.

the fact that it exists in the dictionary does not mean it's correct usage. get with the program.

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2 Comments:

At April 23, 2007 11:47 AM, Blogger Ashish.rastogi@gmail.com said...

Interesting. A few other amusing facts that you're probaably already aware of:

1. 'Nice' from latin 'Nescius' meaning ignorant.
2. 'Sophisticated' from latin 'Sophisticatus' meaning adulterated / tampered with.

- Ashish.

 
At April 26, 2007 3:41 AM, Blogger rai.karan said...

dishabille - thank you for enriching my life with this.
i-ze-fkr

 

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