Regardless Of What You Think, ‘Irregardless’ Is A Word

“People get upset about the dictionary because they think it is some sort of official document,” he tells NPR. “And it’s not. It’s just lexicographers identifying words that people use and trying to find out, well, how are they spelled? How are they pronounced? What meanings do they have? Where did they come from?”

The dictionary’s recognition “doesn’t enroll a word as correct in the English language,” McIntyre says. “It just says this is a word that a lot of people use in English. And here’s what we know about it.”