The other day, I was talking with a colleague, and I said, "...irrespective..." He called me on it, and said that as I was saying it, his mind was finishing the word "ir-REGARDLESS," as so many people say. But a nanosecond later, he realized that I had used the correct word, correctly. And he thanked me for it, and we laughed.

Are we wandering off into some language pet peeves? I have a list.

Actually, I once sent a letter to NPR. THEY, of all people and organizations should be among the most scrupulous about language. I listed my top seven peeves. Never got a response from the ombudsman. But several months later, they started a new piece on language pet peeves that ran for a while on Saturday ATC. Course, it is gone, now. Ahh, those were the days.

I think a lot of the language degradation is because we are doing less reading. And often what we are reading is email and carelessly written web pages where grammar and good word useage are not always valued.

OK, just one. "I could care less." EERRRGGHHHH! If you COULD care less, than the matter under discussion concerns you, at least somewhat. What you REALLY mean is that you "couldN'T care less." That means that the matter is of no interest to you, whatsoever. I could go on, but I will exercise some self-control. Oh the temptation...