Last week, 189-year-old dictionary company Merriam-Webster confirmed that “irregardless” is a word in their dictionary, despite dissent from educators.
In a tweet published Wednesday, a Twitter user posted a screenshot of “irregardless” defined in the online Merriam-Webster Dictionary, captioning the photo, “It was a good run, English language.”
In a snarky response, the official Twitter account for the dictionary responded, “Yep. English is literally dead.”
Yep. English is literally dead. https://t.co/hGVXeSNDV7
— Merriam-Webster (@MerriamWebster) July 1, 2020
“I hope we’re not just going down the path that whatever people say is correct, because I’ll still be sitting around grading papers going, ‘nope, nope, nope,'” Ray added.
Last month, the dictionary changed the definition of the word “racism,” after a 22-year-old woman made a complaint about the previous, supposedly limited definition.
“Kennedy Mitchum, a recent college graduate from Missouri, made the complaint following the death of George Floyd, a black man who died last month after a police officer had his knee on the 46-year-old’s neck for over eight minutes during an arrest, as shown in viral video footage,” The Daily Wire reported at the time.
“I said this is the last argument I’m going to have about this,” explained Mitchum. “I know what racism is, I’ve experienced it time and time and time again in a lot of different ways, so enough is enough. So, I emailed [Merriam-Webster] about how I felt about it. Saying this needs to change.”
“I basically told them they need to include that there is systematic oppression on people,” the recent Drake University grad added. “It’s not just ‘I don’t like someone,’ it’s a system of oppression for a certain group of people.”
Related: Merriam-Webster Changes Definition Of ‘Racism’ After 22-Year-Old Woman’s Complaint
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