RE: Irresponsibility

Regardless of what you think you've been taught, irregardless is not, in fact, a word. Go ahead, look it up. Not there? It's because it isn't a word. As if double negatives weren't frustrating enough, this little thorn in conversation's side is excruciatingly piercing, and at the very least idiomatically awkward to even the untrained ear (I hope). It sticks out like a sore thumb (enter supposably), and, like the previously mentioned phrase, "I could care less," is increasingly being used so that I fear it might sneak its way into slang. The "ir" is unneccessary. Spread the word.

The American Heritage Dictionary of the English Language defines regardless this way:

ADVERB: In spite of everything; anyway: continues to work regardless.
ADJECTIVE: Heedless; unmindful.
re·gardless·ly —ADVERB
re·gardless·ness —NOUN

The problem with the non-word irregardless is that it is inherently redundant. It is a single-word double negative, if such a thing even exists. My trusty friends Strunk and White explain it this way:

Irregardless. Should be regardless. The error results from failure to see the negative in -less and from a desire to get it in as a prefix, suggested by such words as irregular, irresponsible, and, perhaps especially, irrespective.

While we're on the subject, let's move on to regard. In regard to is correct. In regards to is incorrect. You may, however, use the plural following as: As regards.

Regards,

Tracy