# Irregardless **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [June 8, 2012, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477 "2012-06-08T07:46:00Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Indistinguishable](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/90ced4/32.png) [@Indistinguishable](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Indistinguishable)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/41 "2012-06-09T02:27:35Z")
> [@Karen\_Lingel](#): > > If y’all don’t mind me tangenting a bit: > > Why do people think “snuck” is the past tense of “sneak”? There is no precedent: > beak -\> beaked > creak -\> creaked > freak -\> freaked > greek -\> greeked > leak -\> leaked > peek -\> peeked > peak -\> peaked > reek -\> reeked > seek -\> uh, sought. Still. Sure there’s precedent. “stuck”, “dug”, “flung”, “hung”, etc. It’s just usually on words with “short i” rather than “long e”, but those two vowels are very closely related and famously malleable across accents… ---
**Author:** ![Absolute](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/b2d939/32.png) [@Absolute](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Absolute)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/42 "2012-06-09T02:35:41Z")
strike -\> struck ---
**Author:** ![Bozuit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/edb3f5/32.png) [@Bozuit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bozuit)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/43 "2012-06-09T03:02:04Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > strike -\> struck Great, so that’s the past tense of “snike” all ready for when someone invents that word 😛 ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/44 "2012-06-09T03:50:23Z")
> [@california\_jobcase](#): > > Why do Brits orientate when they could just orient? It is acromulent. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 4:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/45 "2012-06-09T04:28:51Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > This thread is irrelevant. Chicolini: Now I aska you one. What has a trunk, but no key, weighs 2,000 pounds and lives in a circus? ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 5:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/46 "2012-06-09T05:32:03Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > Chicolini: Now I aska you one. What has a trunk, but no key, weighs 2,000 pounds and lives in a circus? A walking clock. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 5:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/47 "2012-06-09T05:53:46Z")
> [@johnpost](#): > > unirregardless i agree with your complaint. [del]Speaked[/del] [del]Spoken[/del] Spuck like a true disirregardlessmentarian! [sub]…or is that a true antidisirregardlessmentarian? I always get [del]confused[/del] [del]confusen[/del] confu…you know what I mean.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/48 "2012-06-09T11:15:28Z")
> [@RealityChuck](#): > > The point of using “flammable” was because the in- prefix means “not” (e.g., “incomplete”) most of the time. It was an easy mistake to see “inflammable” and think it means “not able to catch fire,” sometimes with disastrous results. No one makes that mistake with “flammable,” so this is one case where a language change has a clear, logical rationale. I agree with what you said 100% but I was responding to the claim that the \*in \*prefix is “superfluous,” which it’s not. The prefix was not added to the word _flammable_, as was implied by the post I responded to. > [@Colibri](#): > > Chicolini: Now I aska you one. What has a trunk, but no key, weighs 2,000 pounds and lives in a circus? Groucho: I asked her it if that was her hippopotamus and she said it was irrelevant. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 9, 2012, 4:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/49 "2012-06-09T16:56:34Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > Groucho: I asked her it if that was her hippopotamus and she said it was irrelevant. What her hippopotamus was doing in my pajamas I’ll never know. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 8:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/50 "2012-06-10T08:56:34Z")
> [@CookingWithGas](#): > > I agree with what you said 100% but I was responding to the claim that the \*in \*prefix is “superfluous,” which it’s not. The prefix was not added to the word _flammable_, as was implied by the post I responded to. “Superfluous” means unnecessary; it does not mean added on later. Since inflammable and flammable mean the same thing, “in-” is superfluous. ---
**Author:** ![Darth\_Panda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ee7513/32.png) [@Darth\_Panda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darth_Panda)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 11:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/51 "2012-06-10T11:05:59Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > “Superfluous” means unnecessary; it does not mean added on later. Since inflammable and flammable mean the same thing, “in-” is superfluous. What superirfluous? ---
**Author:** ![CheeseDonkey](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ecae2f/32.png) [@CheeseDonkey](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CheeseDonkey)\ **Post date:** [June 10, 2012, 1:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/52 "2012-06-10T13:08:26Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > It’s a perfectly cromulent word. I feel it embiggens my vocabulary. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/53 "2012-06-11T03:19:10Z")
> [@CheeseDonkey](#): > > I feel it embiggens my vocabulary. My vocabulary has certainly been biggified. ---
**Author:** ![dtilque](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/d6d6ee/32.png) [@dtilque](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dtilque)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 7:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/54 "2012-06-11T07:25:47Z")
> [@Absolute](#): > > This thread is irrelevant. Inconceivable! ---
**Author:** ![Steophan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/steophan/32/9595_2.png) [@Steophan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steophan)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 10:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/55 "2012-06-11T10:10:30Z")
You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/56 "2012-06-11T14:27:47Z")
I think it means he can’t get pregnant. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/57 "2012-06-11T14:36:19Z")
> [@Siam\_Sam](#): > > I think it means he can’t get pregnant. That’s impregnable. ---
**Author:** ![Siam\_Sam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d78d45/32.png) [@Siam\_Sam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Siam_Sam)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/58 "2012-06-11T14:37:40Z")
I thought that was a pause. An impregnable pause. ---
**Author:** ![AaronX](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/7bcc69/32.png) [@AaronX](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AaronX)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/59 "2012-06-11T15:19:42Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > That’s impregnable. Isn’t impregnable = able to impregnate? Then not able to get pregnant should be inimpregnable? ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [June 11, 2012, 3:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477/60 "2012-06-11T15:36:13Z")
> [@AaronX](#): > > Isn’t impregnable = able to impregnate? Then not able to get pregnant should be inimpregnable? _ **Irimpregnable** _ [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/irregardless/624477.md?page=4)