Words That Aren't Words

This week's grammar post is short and sweet—a quick list of my favorite words that aren't really words.

1. Irregardless.
The word you want is "regardless." I have no idea where the "ir-" prefix came from, but please do your part to help banish it from the English language.

YES: Regardless of the weather, the wedding will go on.
NO: Irregardless of the weather the wedding will go on.

2. Unthaw.
You can either freeze something or you can thaw it. If you're "unthawing" it, you're actually freezing it, so save a syllable or two and just go with "freeze."

YES: It took 5 minute to thaw the hamburger in the microwave.
NO: It took 5 minutes to unthaw the hamburger in the microwave.


3. Ignernt.
I find this one quite endearing, for whatever reason. It always makes me smile. It's the word "ignorant" shortened to just two syllables, and in some regions of the country it is used in place of the word "rude."

NO: That ignernt driver just cut me off!
YES: That inconsiderate driver just cut me off! ("Rude" or "jackass" would also work in place of "inconsiderate.")
YES: That driver seems to be ignorant of the rules of safe driving.

4. Self-depreciating.
I know I've mentioned this one before, but it warrants mentioning again. The term is "self-deprecating," and you can hear how it's pronounced by clicking on the little sound symbol next to the word at dictionary.com.

YES: Her self-deprecating remarks made everyone laugh.
NO: Her self-depreciating remarks caused her to lose value as she aged.

5. Flustrated.
One person from my not-so-distant past used this term exclusively in place of "frustrated." I'm not the kind of person to correct such habits, so I always let it slide. But just for the record, it's not a word.

NO: I get so flustrated when my kids fight.
YES: I get so frustrated when my kids fight.
YES: I get so flustered when my kids fight, especially if they fight while I'm on the phone.

6. Flush out.
Well, I suppose you can "flush out" a bird that's hiding in a dense thicket, but if you're talking about filling in missing details, you want to use "flesh out."

NO: This is just a first draft, I'll flush out the story later. (What? You mean down the toilet?)
YES: This is just a first draft, I'll flesh out the story later.

And here are a few more:
supposably
ginormous
hugemongous
slickery
analyzation
impactful
disorientated
ecscape
sherbert (it's "sherbet")
perservere (it's "persevere;" skip that extra "r")
could of, should of, would of ("could have" is the correct term)
gruntled (you can be "disgruntled," but not just "gruntled")

p.s. I frequently use "slickery," "ginormous," and even "supposably" (thanks, Joey from Friends!) just to be funny, knowing full well that they aren't really words.

Comments

[Molly]

I know ginormous isn't a word, but I still like it...but then again, I like making up words to drive people nuts ;)

[Jennifer McGuire (not the CK one)]

This is a great post. I have a few people in my life who choose to use irregardless and flustrated and a few others that you listed. I guess I'm always surprised that people thing these are real words. I'm from Indiana, so grammar errors are par for the course. However, I might say should of, could of, would of knowing that I mean "have." It's just said when people don't really know that they are not actually saying it correctly. Ignernt was a new one for me! I have not heard that before.

[Jennifer McGuire (not the CK one)]

I agree with Molly. Ginormous isn't a word, but it's fun to use. I think the key is knowing that it's not actually a word!

[Abbie]

You crack me up, Angie.
Don't forget "crick". My time living in Nebraska it DROVE ME NUTS to hear. It's a CREEK, people! Not an "i" in the word!

[Jingle]

HA! This post made me laugh! I hate it when people use words that simply do not exist! LOL! Although, I tend to correct more than I should! I must confess that I do use 'ginormous' sometimes, however, I use it knowing full well that it is not a real word. It's just a fun combination of words! Another one that drives me nuts: CongraDulations or Congrads. Really? It kills me!

[Stefani]

You know, I've always liked word plays and interesting word patterns (ie; There are 7 kids in my family and every other name has 7 or 5 letters respectively - I love knowing this, hee!) But until I started reading your blog I didn't realize that I also like correct usage of words. Not that I correct others, but I do get a chuckle out of word conglomerations or just plain made up words.

And I HAVE been known to use ginormous and kajillion and other such concoctions. I think Jennifer (not the CK one *wink*) is right they're fun to use if you know it's really NOT a word.

[Kim K]

I'm with all of you on ginormous! I like it too!
Jingle...congradulations is my pet peeve!
I also hate could of, would of, should of. UGH!

[Sarah Martina]

This is my first time visiting your blog... and I think I'm in love! lol....

Your first entry, "irregardless," is one of my HUGEST pet peeves!

So are... Ecspecially (close cousin of ecscape), and "Fixing to"... also known as "Fin'na". As in... "I'm fixing to go pick up the kids."

This is great...I will learn to laugh about this one day! lol... But I do have to be honest. I use the word ginormous all the time.... and y'all. That one I'm a HUGE violator of!

[geek_girl]

...and my personal favourite.
The word is 'specifically' meaning related to, definite, distinctive or unique.
It is not 'pacifically' meaning 'how you would get to the USA from Europe'.

[Samantha]

This list is great Angie! I sent it to my husband since he HATES when people say 'irregardless." I have also heard people say 'fustrated' instead of 'frustrated.' That gets to me. Also, 'whelmed' in the place of 'overwhelmed.' Can you even be merely 'whelmed?'

[Marg VP]

You hit my two biggest language pet peeves: irregardless and unthaw. I just had a conversation with a co-worker about the use of "unthaw". He insists that unthaw is correct..."irregardless" of the facts presented here!!
Question for you: In hunting terms a field dog will flush birds for the hunter. I understand the difference and use of flush vs flesh as desribed in your blog today. However, I don't quite understand where "flush with" as in "flush with cash" originate or if its even considered proper use. Any ideas?
Thanks again for another informative blog!

[Myra]

I hate it when people say "anyways."

Ginormous was added to Webster's in 2007: http://www.usatoday.com/life/books/2007-07-10-dictionary-new-words_N.htm

[Alissa]

probably my biggest made-up word pet peeve is "imput"... holy crap, not a word!

[Holly]

Ginormous is my biggest. Pet. Peeve. Ever. As soon as I hear it whatever comes after it is tuned out. Irregardless is a very close second. I won't even talk about should of. Chills are going up my spine right now!!

[jaineparr]

The hairs on the back of my neck stand up when I hear someone say, "I put it over top the chair." They should say, "I put it above the chair," or "I put it on the chair," or "I put it over the chair." I will try to hear it as topple over, or over throw, or some other words that make no sense.

Can anyone spell voila? "Wallah" makes me think of Wallaby, or Galah, both of which are Australian animals and not an expression of surprise.

[Sarah]

This post is hilarious. I don't feel so alone anymore. This week my son got a book from the library called Yours Truly, Louisa. Louisa the Pig signs her letters as "disgruntled" until the end when she is happy so she becomes "gruntled". Now I will think of you when I read this to him! (;

[Jori]

"Did they go to the zoo?" Supposably.

I hate when people say "inhead of" instead of ahead of.

[Lisa]

I want to come to your house and be your friend. I'm just afraid that people will start rolling their eyes at us, rather than the other way around. :O)

When we took my puppy to the Vet for his first check-up the Doctor said supposably. My husband and I looked at each other and knew that we would be searching for a new Vet as soon as we left the office.

Anytime someone says that "word" now we just look at each other and can barely contain ourselves.

[Colleen]

I so love your blog. You manage to point out so many of my pet peeves, but you do it so NICELY.

I use ginormous all the time, I love that word.

[Colleen]

Ooh, I just remembered another one that drives me CRAZY.

Each chuther. Rather than "each other." Why, people, why?

[Trude]

Thank you!! :) I have to admit to loving ginormous, and I managed to christen our recently-passed cat Gigantor, because it truly was the only word to describe him and his personality. ;) But I did it knowing it's not a real word, so its not so bad, right?

Have you checked out the "Blog" of "Unncessary" Quotation Marks? Its a total crackup. People send in photos from all over the globe!

[april]

my mother-in-law always says boughten. drives me crazy.

[Jimberly Harker]

I've heard many smart, educated people use "expecially."

I also heard on the radio that "ginormous" was being included in an English dictionary (I don't know which).

I've been guilty of "irregardless" and "unthaw." I think I actually said "de-thaw." Luckily I've had some nerd friends over the years kind enough to chew me out.

[Nina Douglas]

'Disorientated' is actually a word - it's the British English version of your 'disoriented'. Just wanted to clear it up for any Brits who, like me, read your list and were confused!
Although it's a misspelling rather than a non-word, the one that gets me most is 'definitely'. It's the word I see most frequently misspelled in text messages. It's espeically unforgivable in cases of predicitve texting - if 'definately' doesn't come up in the dictionary, it means you're spelling it wrong!!
Thanks for your regular grammar columns though. They're always fun to read and so easy to understand!

[Susan Raihala]

Orientate and disorientate: two non-words I see in print frequently, guaranteed to make me sigh.

I've never heard flustrate before. The marriage of fluster and frustrate, however, strikes me as extremely useful and highly applicable to my life.

When I worked as a writer/editor for a semiconductor manufacturer, I initially corrected the use of transition as a verb. After a year, I gave up in technical documents and only corrected it in business/sales literature. Those pesky engineers wore me down!

[susanvl]

Ah, so many kindred spirits. It's fun to twist words to be funny, but misusing language in business makes me crazy. Had a manager once who used "pacific" in lieu of "specific". Made me insane every time I heard it! "Orientate" makes me cringe, and I've been known to explain to people that "definitely" contains the word "finite" hoping that will help them spell it. And "congradulations".....don't even go there.

[Angie (mommiextwo)]

Love this post! I agree about all the words...kind of gets to you after awhile, doesn't it? I can add 'simular' to the list. There's no 'U' in it people! lol Now, being from the south...people would never get anything done if they were 'fixing to do it'. Sorry, that one's not going away! Remember, Texas is a whole 'nuther' country. :)

[Verbena]

Loved this post! As a former teacher, your examples were perfect! "Irregardless" is one of my pet peeves. It is right up there with "orientating" a new employee to his/her position. Thank you, thank you, thank you!!

[Jennifer Larson]

I tried posting this earlier using Firefox but failed. I'll try this again on IE:

You know, a bunch of boys at my school INSISTED irregardless was a legitimate word--in the dictionary, they said! You can use it! In the class picture they had signs to spell out "irregardless" as if to thumb their noses at English teachers like me. If they had read the dictionary entry, they would have seen it said, "substandard or humorous redundancy for regardless." Not a real word.

The one that bugs me is ect. People are spelling it that way because they say "eksetera" instead of "etcetera."

[Erica Ambrosio]

Wow Angie! With this post I could understand why my friends in the US say that my English is better than the one from some Americans. I have no idea about these "words". I still can't believe in these words.

[Katie Scott]

I could give you at least 100 words people mix up with respect to the law; my personal favorite is "adjudificate".

[Tatty]

Ginormous and humongous are included in the Times and Chambers dictionaries in the UK for colloquial use. I expect that the OED also features both, but I don't have my copy to hand.

As a follow-on to Nina's point about disoriented / disorientated, I give you obligated / obliged . The former seems more common in the US while in the UK we tend towards the latter.

[Amy So]

I think you should read the book The Disreputable History of Frankie Landau Banks. It has this great section on neglected positives that will make you giggle. Just like this post made me giggle!

[denise:)]

Yes, they did add Ginormous to the dictionary! It's such a fun word.

"Irregardless" & "supposably" drive me batty- DEFINITELY!! (heh heh -no matter how often i use "Definitely" in emails, certain close members of my family continue with the "A". sigh.)

My mom asked us how our "trip to Ikita" went yesterday. It was great, but we went to Ikea.

[Ashleigh]

ROFL! I love this list! My friends think I am crazy for always correcting them. My all-time non-word to hate is "conversate." It's converse! Sadly, it is still used.

[susan opel]

OK - WOW! Totally with you on these, but a particular high five on the "irregardless" and "flush out" ones. Flush out? Really? That's totally gross.

:)

[Mark Pennington]

I never thought about "unthaw." Check out these Top 40 Vocabulary Pet Peeves, but warning… you may cringe on a few that you have misused.

[Mark Pennington]

Oops. Here they are at http://penningtonpublishing.com/blog/reading/top-40-vocabulary-pet-peeves/. Read 'em and weep...

[Ange]

How about "Haters", "Textual", "Closure", "Readings" and several other proactive internet buzzwords that have turned up in the vernacular lately? I doubt that half of these are real words.

[marisaknudsen@comcast.net]

I hate to be the bearer of bad news but impactful is a word. So is disorientated.

[Angie]

Thanks for commenting! Differing opinions are welcome. It depends on the dictionary you consult and whether you live in the U.S. or the U.K. Some dictionaries are prescriptive, others are descriptive. There are certainly some schools of thought that dont count disorientated or impactful as proper English words, at least in the U.S., which is my personal frame of reference.

[Jill]

Supposably's a word. I just looked it up. Guess I can't judge people for saying that one anymore. Supposively isn't a word though. I can still judge people for that. Anyway(s), that's how I found this post. I wanted a list of words that aren't words. Thanks!

[Angie]

Yes, I suppose you are right! Supposably is technically a word, although it is rarely properly used. It is often used in place of supposedly, which means something entirely different. Thanks for commenting!

[ryan]

that would most likely be "Alantically" but hey what do I know.... Pacifically would most likely be you know from well Asia or Australia...