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'irregardless' is a word.


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Ah, but you see, when I use it, I always use it to mean the same thing. But others use it with a variety of meanings. My attempt in using it is to bring stability to the proper use of the word.

C

Ah ha! Earlier in this topic I thought you were deprecating the delightful word "moot" which I remembered you had used recently. So now we know your reasoning for selecting unusual words. Bravo, Cole! Bravo, I say!

Just for the record, in support of Cole's use of moot, from the Chambers online dictionary in WordWeb Pro:

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moot /moot/

noun

  1. Orig a meeting
  2. A deliberative or administrative assembly or court (historical)
  3. Its meeting-place
  4. Discussion
  5. A law student's discussion of a hypothetical case

transitive verb

  1. To argue, dispute
  2. To propose for discussion

intransitive verb

To dispute, plead

adjective

Debatable

ORIGIN: OE (ge)mōt (noun), mōtian (verb), related to mētan to meet

mootˈable (adjective)

mootˈer (noun)

mootˈing (noun)

moot case (noun)

  1. A case for discussion
  2. A case about which there may be difference of opinion

moot court (noun)

A meeting for discussion of hypothetical cases, esp a mock court

moot hall or moot house (noun)

  1. A town hall or council chamber
  2. A hall for moot courts

mootˈ-hill (noun)

A hill used for meetings on which the moot was held (often confused with mote-hill (see under motte2))

mootˈman (noun)

A law student who argues in moots

moot point noun

An undecided or disputed point

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You can see that there are far too many disparate meanings for the word "moot" that makes its use almost moot. Isn't the English language fu... uh... fun?

Colin :icon_geek:

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I'm sure I'm not the only one that has seen it used properly with the meaning 'debatable', and then commonly also used to mean 'not debatable, having a fixed, clear meaning'. I've even seen it listed both ways in dictionary definitions. I'm glad it's missing what I call it's incorrect form in Colin's dictionary.

C

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What's interesting about "moot" is that the original meaning is a "meeting" from which "debate" would seem to flow naturally.

Colin :icon_geek:

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