Stanley is buying Black and Decker for $4.5 billion in stock

[Puckdropper]

Jack Stein wrote in news:hcphoh$1sd$ [e-mail]- september.org:

It's application was turned down by committee. It can try again next year, though.

Puckdropper

[Jack Stein]

That would be France. In the USSA, all that a word needs to be a word is usage.

[David F. Eisan]

How about ilnonirregardlessnesses?

David.

[David F. Eisan]

Hello Leon,

After trying for four years to become a Festool dealer, I just got my first shipment of just over 100 different SKU's.

I didn't like there way of doing business when they wouldn't sell me tools, but now that I am onboard, I understand it and agree. One thousand times smarter than B&D.

David.

[Robatoy]

That looked like a pretty comprehensive display you got there, David. Right across the aisle from MiniMax no less.

[Robert Bonomi]

Really? And just what word _would_ you use to describe doing something 'without irregard'?

[Nonny]

I see that they offer the battery drills with NiMH and NiCD batteries. What did they tell you about which to recommend for different uses? Have they published any literature on the differences?

[upscale]

It actually is a word and is currently found in many dictionaries. As we all know, if a word is used often enough it becomes a regular word accepted by most. Consider all the words attached to the computer age. They weren't around 40 years ago when many of us were alive, yet they're accepted without question now. It doesn't make sense to say that irregardless isn't a word, not anymore anyway.

Consider the explanation in the Merriam-Webster dictionary: "usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that ?there is no such word.? There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

[Doug Winterburn]

Similar to "fingernails on a blackboard", it's almost as irritating as an aspiring world leader saying "We've got" rather than "We have". My (Canadian) mother would have slapped _me_ silly for that abuse of the language...

- Doug

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 14:49:24 -0500, the infamous "David F. Eisan" scrawled the following:

That's only valid if typed in by a Canuckistani Ironmonger. (Void in USA, Do Not Pass GO, Do Not Collect $200)

-- The Smart Person learns from his mistakes. The Wise Person learns from the mistakes of others. And then there are all the rest of us...

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[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 07 Nov 2009 18:44:44 -0700, the infamous Doug Winterburn scrawled the following:

With "irregardless" in there, I'm truly surprised that "newkyaler" isn't there, too.

-- The Smart Person learns from his mistakes. The Wise Person learns from the mistakes of others. And then there are all the rest of us...

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[David F. Eisan]

Don't have much time to hang around here anymore. Glad to see you are still around. How are things?

Take care,

David.

[Larry Jaques]

On Sat, 7 Nov 2009 21:58:55 -0500, the infamous "David F. Eisan" scrawled the following:

Not still around, but back around after a 4ish year break.

I still never seem to get into the shop, but I'm working with wood again in my handyman business, and still collecting 'user' tools.

I'm still fighting the war against stain, poly, and pukey ducks. You done any kitchen routing recently? I've shared your story with the Wreck.Metalheads.

Dittoes, Davy.

-- The Smart Person learns from his mistakes. The Wise Person learns from the mistakes of others. And then there are all the rest of us...

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[David F. Eisan]

No kitchen routing, but I did mix cookie batter with my Makita 12v. It turns out when making cookies, you are supposed to let the butter sit on the counter for 30 minutes and not try to mix it with sugar when it is not soft. I broke one wooden spoon and burned out my wifes crappy beater. Makita was up for the task though and the cookies were very good.

I am married now, have a wonderful wife, I have been to Europe, have a nice house, new truck (300 hp 5.3l dual cab ZQ8 GMC Canyon), decent job, every tool known to man, life is good.

David.

[Larry Jaques]

On Sun, 8 Nov 2009 10:00:32 -0500, the infamous "David F. Eisan" scrawled the following:

That's far too logical to have been any fun. Oh, poo!

Would you please send your absolutely gorgeous Columbian ex-girlfriend down to me? Pretty please? Thanks, you're a sport.

-- The Smart Person learns from his mistakes. The Wise Person learns from the mistakes of others. And then there are all the rest of us...

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[Robert Bonomi]

Some dictionaries are 'descriptive' -- they catagorize things that are actually encountered 'in the wild'. Being listed in such a dictionary does _not_ give any semblance of 'legitimacy' to any given construct.

Other dictionaries are 'prescriptive' -- they catagorize how things *should* be used.

The increasing divergence between 'prescriptive' and 'descriptive' compendiums is a _damning_ indictment of the contemporary educational process.

'Irregardless' is a 'double negative', having a negating prefix _and_ a negating suffix. A decomposition gets you 'without irregard', or '*not* regardless'. It is usually 'obvious', from context, that the user of the construct does not mean "not regardless"; thus one can only conclude, "from usage" (*evil* grin), that the intent is 'without irregard', whatever _that_ means.

[Robert Bonomi]

Some dictionaries are 'descriptive' -- they categorize things that are actually encountered 'in the wild'. Being listed in such a dictionary does _not_ give any semblance of 'legitimacy' to any given construct.

Other dictionaries are 'prescriptive' -- they categorize how things *should* be used.

The increasing divergence between 'prescriptive' and 'descriptive' compendiums is a _damning_ indictment of the contemporary educational process.

'Irregardless' is a 'double negative', having a negating prefix _and_ a negating suffix. A decomposition gets you 'without irregard', or '*not* regardless'.

[J. Clarke]

Merriam-Webster and Oxford both contain it--Merriam-Webster says that it is incorrect usage, Oxford says that it is American dialect. As for the "divergence between prescriptive and descriptive dictionaries, that's a polite way of saying "There's Oxford, and there's Merriam-Webster, and then there's a bunch of crap".

Any publisher of a dictionary who thinks that he controls the language is a fool.

One can level the same sort of criticism at "inflammable".

You can argue for the rest of your life that "irregardless" is not a word, thereby making a few points with a few purists and annoying everyone else, or you can find something important to argue about, your choice.

[Andrew Barss]

Robert Bonomi wrote: : Some dictionaries are 'descriptive' -- they categorize things that are actually : encountered 'in the wild'. Being listed in such a dictionary does _not_ give : any semblance of 'legitimacy' to any given construct.

Why do you need words to be legitimized?

: Other dictionaries are 'prescriptive' -- they categorize how things *should* : be used.

Acording to self-proclaimed experts who typically do not know very much about language, unfortunately. Even worse are the Edwin Newman/William Safire/Strunk & White types, who

*really* do not know anything about language..

: The increasing divergence between 'prescriptive' and 'descriptive' compendiums : is a _damning_ indictment of the contemporary educational process.

Or it's a sign that a long-term fad (language prescriptivism in the poular press) is now dying, which is overall a good thing.

-- Andy Barss

[Robert Bonomi]

No, one *cannot*. flammable, and inflammable come from _different_ root words, _both_ are tracable all the way back to Old Latin, where the roots dispaly the same confusing similarity.

"Inflammable" comes from the same root as "inflamation", "inflamed", "inflamatory", etc.

"Flammable" comes from the same root as "flame".