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melluransa ([personal profile] melluransa) wrote2012-02-15 08:23 pm
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Irregardless

"Irregardless" is such an empty word. "Regardless" just means "in spite of," but what does that make "irregardless" mean? It means nothing, then. There is no contrasting point that is in spite of something. There's just no issue.

It was cold. Regardless, the paradegoers eagerly waited in the streets.
In spite of it being cold [regardless] the paradegoers eagerly waited in the streets.

It was cold. Irregardless, the paradegoers eagerly waited in the streets.
The paradegoers eagerly waited in the streets in spite of nothing [irregardless].

XD It's not even a word in the dictionary.

The reason I'm bringing this up is that my genius professor used this word. I'm not detracting from her brilliance at all -- she's truly a genius, brilliant -- but she was really incensed about the topic she was lecturing about (overdiagnosis of "autism" for kids who don't have it) and she was on a roll.

She had other winsome quotes tonight too. I love her. This is the same professor who said "Sparkly unicorns work very hard at eating play-doh" to prove a point, which effectively did so.

"Zero. Zilcho. Nada" (about how age-equivalent scores tell you nothing about a child's level of functioning but are just some empty statistic of the median score of a particular age group of the norming sample)

"Oh my god, disorder from cat litter. Another reason not to have cats!" (talking about cytomegalovirus, which is actually quite terrifying and the reason pregnant women are not allowed to change cat litter)

"So this brings me to a point about my husband's family" (talking about how his sister in law made everyone take off their shoes in their house, because their house had a crawling baby who would put things on the floor in her mouth and shoes can track in nasty things like toxins that can affect development)

"I don't know if it's a 'sexy speech disorder' or what...." (talking about how the diagnosis of "childhood apraxia of speech" is overused when people can't or don't take the time to really figure out why a child doesn't talk or talk typically)

[identity profile] steinsgrrl.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 02:58 am (UTC)(link)
Irregardless almost always gets a squinty side eye from me. lol

I kinda wanna take your class. Just...to listen.

[identity profile] melluransa.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:14 am (UTC)(link)
"Irregardless" is used all the time in my area. That, and "could care less." 9_9 (that's an eye roll, not nines for eyes. well, they are nines for eyes but they're eyes that are rolling, gah forget it)

She's a brilliant teacher. She has strong oratory skills and her powerpoints are the perfect blend of details and big ideas. I've learned so much from her! When thinking about the stuff we've talked about, I even imagine her voice in my head.

I want to tell her how much everything I've learned from her means to me, but I want to wait a year for when I graduate. I'm taking her class and being graded by her, and I don't want her to think I'm trying to influence anything. I'm just sincerely grateful, is all.

[identity profile] steinsgrrl.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:18 am (UTC)(link)
*nods* that makes complete sense.

(9s for eyes. ;)

[identity profile] melluransa.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:24 am (UTC)(link)
;) You reminded me that I saw these neat tail lights on a car on the drive home. They were like parentheses! It was like start parentheses, trunk, license plate, trunk, end parentheses.

I wonder what the singular for "parenthesis" is. Parenthes?

[identity profile] steinsgrrl.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:29 am (UTC)(link)
Heh, cool.

Erm, Idk! Made me grin that you're wondering, though. :D

[identity profile] melluransa.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:34 am (UTC)(link)
It is parenthesis. A start parenthesis. An end parenthesis. Together, parentheses! If I got married and instead of rings we got tattoos, having a start and end parenthesis on either of us might be cool.

[identity profile] steinsgrrl.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:39 am (UTC)(link)
Ohhh, now THAT is adorable!

[identity profile] melluransa.livejournal.com 2012-02-16 03:43 am (UTC)(link)
Isn't it! The message could be that you always need a start and an end parenthesis. And, that we have a lot to say that's between us. And that they're next to each other on the keyboard.

That settles it. I'm going to insist on parentheses tattoos.

[identity profile] kseenaa.livejournal.com 2012-02-24 09:38 pm (UTC)(link)
I have heard about the cat-litter thing to... I've grown up with cats and always lived with cats, so I actually find it interesting. Morbidly so, mayhaps...

[identity profile] melluransa.livejournal.com 2012-02-25 01:30 am (UTC)(link)
It's fascinating and scary to think of the diseases and illnesses we can get from animals... and the ones they can get from us. O_o Like mad cow disease, from coming into contact with the neuronal tissue of infected cows. Inter-species sicknesses...