Geoff Dyer, writing for the NY Times Book Review, kvetches about the excessive use of the word “tireless”:
Like a tired person trying to get to sleep who is kept awake by sounds from the street that he or she has for years scarcely noticed, I found that the word had become suddenly unignorable. …
I was curious to see if there were examples of people using “tireless” in such a way as to make it seem less tired. Well, if there are I haven’t found them. It is so thoroughly used up, tired and worn out that no one seems able to bring it back from the dead — and yet, by drawing deep on its own essence, it remains absolutely tireless in its capacity to survive, like a verbal equivalent of the undead.
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Kory Stamper, a lexicographer at Merriam-Webster, pleads with people to quit peeving about irregardless—a perfectly legitimate word that’s been around for a century:
Many people claim is that “irregardless” is not a word–but, see, the facts tell us it is. I have evidence of its use in edited, printed prose, going back to about 1912. It’s probably been in spoken use even longer. … If you think “irregardless” is a crusty, weeping pustule marring the face of English, then don’t use it. But there’s no need to act like “irregardless” is an untreatable cancer of the language. We got through John Dryden and his asinine “no terminal preposition” rule okay–we’ll get through “irregardless,” too.
I’m embarrassed to admit (even to myself) how many of these Pronunciation Manual videos I’ve seen in the last 24 hours. What is it about them? Why are they so funny? As a friend said, “[they] stir up some warped neanderthal humor response.” It’s like having your brain tickled.
Hi! This is a blog. If you're interested in language, design, typography, and the occasional bit of random, you might (no promises) find something good to read here. –Jeb
