>> I, also, in their situation, would have liked an investigation to "
>> ... locate the source of the radioactive particles found in the
>> general
>> environment around the Dounreay Nuclear Establishment  ...",
>> irregardless of how health affecting they might be.


> Russell,
>
> You are charged that you did use an Americanism, resulting in an 
> inaccurate statement of your intended meaning.  How do you plead? 
> :-)
> (I believe you meant "regardless"! :-)

It is probable but not certain that the term originated in 'the 
colonies'.

I considered "regardless" but wanted something more 'open' and 
tenuous.
While "regardless" clearly SHOULD mean "without regard to" which 
implies neutrality, it is generally nowadays biased towards a sense of 
"despite the fact that ...". ie in this case it might in some minds be 
rendered " ... in spite of the fact that they might not be health 
affecting."

I did not want that sense to be conveyed.

What I was aiming at was more - "Whether the radiation particles do or 
don't constitute a radiation hazard is completely not the issue - in 
either case I would have wanted an investigation to locate the source 
of the particles ... . "

Irregardless seemed to me more liable to escape the bias which may 
exist with standard garden variety "regardless". But, perhaps not.

The word is, perhaps, not so frowned on by 'experts' as one might 
expect - despite severe attempts to stamp it out aborning.

See:

Summary from:

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Irregardless

Irregardless seems to be moving slowly in the direction of 
standardization. It has gone from nonexistence in the 1910 publication 
of Etymological Dictionary of the English Language,[7] to being a 
normality in modern dictionary publications, and it frequently occurs 
in edited professional prose. The fact that its listing as a "humorous 
usage" has practically disappeared today supplies further evidence in 
favor of acceptance. Nevertheless, irregardless still has much 
progress to make. It does not appear in most thesauruses, and is 
neither in Roget's 21st Century Thesaurus (1992)[8] nor The Random 
House Thesaurus (College Edition, 1984).[9] Teachers generally 
advocate the use of regardless or irrespective in place of 
irregardless.

______________

Summing up from

        http://www.worldwidewords.org/qa/qa-irr1.htm

        Whose erudition I generally place some store in

"So the precedents are all on the side of irregardless and-despite the 
opinions of the experts-I suspect that the word will become even more 
popular in the US in the future. For the moment, though, it is best 
avoided in formal writing."


OK?
:-)

        Russell





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