baiskeli

Normally I'm complaining about drivers, but I guess idiots come in all modes of transportation. The difference is that idiots on bikes can do less damage (to others) than idiots on cars.
I need to vent a bit. I think this is bothering me because I think it borders on negligence on the mother's part.

For anyone who knows the Arlington, Belmont area, I was driving on RT 60 (Pleasant St) from Arlington into Belmont. This is a road with a 25-35 mph speed limit so cyclists use it (I use it a lot when riding and need to go to Belmont. I notice a mother and her child riding on the sidewalk to my right (at this point, for some reason I've automatically slowed down). There is a cone in the sidewalk (not blocking their way, just narrowing it) and the mother decides that she will hop off the sidewalk onto the road (WITHOUT LOOKING BACK AT ALL!!!) and swerves out right into the middle of the lane, her son follows her actions and I have to slam on my brakes as they both veer right into my path. They didn't even bother to look behind them even after the fact. I just shook my head and passed them when they hopped back onto the sidewalk.

Its amazing that someone could be riding on the sidewalk and decide to arbitrarily hop off onto the road without once looking back. This is a relatively busy road and even if it wasn't common sense dictates that you do so. Its even worse when your child is riding behind you and you pull this crap, thus endangering him. If I hadn't slowed down I think that driving at the speed limit (30-35 mph) things could have ended badly.

So, if you were the woman in question, you are an idiot and a supremely irresponsible parent.

JoelS

Not surprising at all, just really stupid. People walk and ride just like they drive. Doubtful that she looks back when changing lanes in her car.

ehidle

There's that "irregardless" thing again...

nachomc

I'd give them a healthy blast from the horns and hope they'd learn their lesson.

CharlieWoo

People should be able to post irrirregardless of their grammatical skills.

Sir Real

Shouldn't that be unirregardless?

halfspeed

No. It should be disunnonirregardless.

Enthalpic

Technically irregardless is a word, I use it on occasion just to annoy people.

ir·re·gard·less
Pronunciation:
\ˌir-i-ˈgärd-ləs\
Function:
adverb
Etymology:
probably blend of irrespective and regardless
Date:
circa 1912

nonstandard : regardless
usage Irregardless originated in dialectal American speech in the early 20th century. Its fairly widespread use in speech called it to the attention of usage commentators as early as 1927. The most frequently repeated remark about it is that “there is no such word.” There is such a word, however. It is still used primarily in speech, although it can be found from time to time in edited prose. Its reputation has not risen over the years, and it is still a long way from general acceptance. Use regardless instead.

halfspeed

Correct, and people should be able to ridicule them for doing so.

rusto

Just last week in my neighborhood, a dad was walking a stroller in the street so his older child could putt-putt along on his training wheel equipped bike on the sidewalk next to him. On my bike, I came alongside the dad to pass, the kid on the bike bolted ahead and down a driveway onto the street right in front of me (I'm in the middle of the lane, passing the dad). I locked up my brakes and the dad simply shrugged his shoulders when I looked back at him.

Sometimes I wonder if some people only have kids so that they collect the insurance on them when they die or are severely injured. Sheesh.

KevinF

Exactly. For those not aware, Belmont and Arlington are suburbs of Boston. Anybody who has not had first-hand experience driving in the Boston area is missing one of the truly great adventures in life. Looking behind you when you change lanes is a sign of weakness around here. Using turn signals is unheard of. It's awesome fun.

halfspeed

Except that logically it means the opposite of what the speaker intends it to mean.

NoGaBiker

Sure, we've all seen the "refutation" that you posted. The problem is not (despite the first poster's claim) that "irregardless" is not a word. It's that it is the opposite word from what the user almost universally means. The prefix "ir" effectively negates or reverses the rest of the word, which is "regardless", or "without regard." So the user of "irregardless" is actually saying "with regard," when he means "without regard." Thus, "I ride on the street irregardless of whether anyone cares," actually means "I ride on the street with regard to whether anyone cares."

Fascinating pedantry concluded. Carry on.

cooker

Words don't follow logical rules. If they did, you guys would use "awesome" and "awful" as synonyms, but I bet you don't.

Remember Alice and Humpty Dumpty.

DiabloScott

I could care less.

DrPete 

For all intensive purposes, I agree.

Enthalpic

This would only be true if the word wasn’t defined separately. Irregardless is not regardless with the prefix “ir”, it is just irregardless all by itself. Just like irradiate is not the opposite of radiate.

Enthalpic

That was a mute point.

KiddSisko

Grammar snobs. Pfff. So unnecessarily unnecessary.

dallasmike

We apprecify that.

BarracksSi

They're on foot, too (so I'd guess you'd say that they were riding shoes).

I witnessed a man in my neighborhood who walked in front of an oncoming SUV -- with his four-year-old kid holding his hand. He put up his hand as if to signal the SUV to stop, and of course, the little boy did the same. This guy did not think that, just maybe, the SUV driver was holding a map and a cell phone and could have been too distracted to stop in time. And, if that kid becomes able to cross the street by himself, he might just try the "hand equals stop for me" thing and get smushed.

(the map & cell phone were true -- he was asking me for directions in the intersection ten yards earlier)

Whatever happened to the rule that every parent has taught their kids -- "Look both ways before you cross the street"? Why are there people that feel they should interrupt the flow of traffic just because they can't seem to wait another twenty seconds for a clear space? Why have I heard people say, "F- them, I have the right of way, they can wait!"? Why did I see a so-called "investigative TV reporter" force himself in front of cars traveling 50+ mph on a 4-lane highway just to tell them, "Do you know that you're supposed to stop for pedestrians here?" Why, pray tell, do they bet their LIVES on an unknown driver that may not be paying attention?

Sorry... stupidity causes me to rant...

CAAD5AL

The American Heritage® Dictionary of the English Language: Fourth Edition. 2000.

irregardless

SYLLABICATION: ir·re·gard·less
PRONUNCIATION: r-gärdls
ADVERB: Nonstandard Regardless.
ETYMOLOGY: Probably blend of irrespective and regardless.
USAGE NOTE: Irregardless is a word that many mistakenly believe to be correct usage in formal style, when in fact it is used chiefly in nonstandard speech or casual writing. Coined in the United States in the early 20th century, it has met with a blizzard of condemnation for being an improper yoking of irrespective and regardless and for the logical absurdity of combining the negative ir– prefix and –less suffix in a single term. Although one might reasonably argue that it is no different from words with redundant affixes like debone and unravel, it has been considered a blunder for decades and will probably continue to be so.

halfspeed

No, it's just semiliterate nonsense.

cooker

Lots of words are nonsense, but the previous poster made a good point - it's not a wrong usage of a previously defined word. So it's more correct than "awful" or "yelp" where their meaning is now the opposite of what it once was, because people misused them until the wrong meaning became the correct one. According to JRR Tolkein, "yelp" used to mean to speak proudly, like a knight stating his allegiance. "Awful" (awe-full) meant the same as "awesome". How come you don't consider them nonsense?

Sure, irregardless is a sketchy word, and I would only use it in an informal setting, but I like it because it has rhythm.

halfspeed

Cooker's idea of rhythm: https://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/...500_AA240_.jpg