LANGUAGE MATTERS By Kristen di Gennaro

A whole entire response to redundancies

I n response to my last column describing the new(ish) use of the possessive “and I’s,” a reader wrote in with an observation about “whole entire,” as in, “I can’t believe she ate the whole entire thing.” I must admit, it took me a minute to see the potential problem with “whole entire,” but I assume it’s bothersome because it’s redundant – both “whole” and “entire” mean the same thing. So why use the two words together?

My guess is that speakers use the two-word phrase for emphasis, like a cleaner way of saying, “She didn’t just eat the whole cake, but she ate the whole *&%$ thing!” After hearing “whole entire” multiple times, other speakers start to use the phrase as well without even noticing the redundancy.

In fact, many of us are guilty of using “whole entire” and other redundant phrases, such as when we mention the “free gift” we received with a purchase, our “past history” with someone, or the “end result” of a long, complicated situation. In fact, we’re probably not even aware of using such questionable words or phrases.

Take, for example, the situation Matters Magazine editor Ellen Donker describes in the spring issue, noting how a former boss frequently used the word “irregardless.” This immediately reminded me of one morning when Tony Dokoupil, a journalist on CBS This Morning, uttered this word during a segment. I have no idea what he was talking about, but just as Ellen noticed when her former boss used this word, I tuned in and made a note of it. Unlike with Ellen’s boss, however, someone must have told Dokoupil about his transgression because after the commercial break, he apologized for having uttered it, as if he had said a four-letter rather than a four-syllable word. In case anyone missed his spoken apology, Dokoupil followed up with a social media post:

As a linguist, I’m less interested in Dokoupil’s use of a questionable word than I am in his response. What makes “irregardless” so offensive that its use warrants an apology? Many insist the word isn’t logical because it includes two negatives: the prefix ir- and the suffix -less. But language isn’t math, so no, two negative affixes do not equal a linguistic positive. Some say it derives from a blend of “regardless” and “irrespective,” making one of the affixes redundant. Or maybe “irregardless” is emphatic – not simply without regard for what follows, but really without any consideration whatsoever. This brings us back to “whole entire.” If past history is any guide, (ir)regardless of our individual preferences, the end result will probably have all of us using the word eventually.

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What other questionable words or phrases have you noticed? How do you react when people use them? Please email your thoughts or questions on language matters to Kristen di Gennaro, your local linguist, at languagematters@mattersmagazine.com.

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Kristen di Gennaro is an associate professor of English at Pace University, where she teaches courses on linguistics. She lives in Maplewood and sometimes gathers language data during her commute on the train.