| Language for Lawyers |

“Presidential candidate Mike Huckabee used the word compound noun greenback) and mail (the second half of blackmail). Green- Q:irregardless in his comments during the political campaign. mail refers to the practice of buying a Joe Biden later used the phrase a long ways. Are these expressions large block of a company’s stock in or- correct grammar?” der to force a rise in the price of stock to thwart a possible takeover. (Howev- er, to some readers, that term must be No. Language becomes “cor- Adding in-, im-, ir-, and un- to ambiguous because the adjective green A:rect” (that is, standard English) most adjectives usually does create a now also refers to environmentally fa- only after the following criteria are negative, as in ineffective, imperfect, vorable products.) satisfied: The language is in current, irreplaceable, and unreliable. But in Another noun, schlub, is not listed in wide use by educated speakers. Neither other adjectives—like incandescent, the 1996 edition of Webster’s Third, but expression the reader asked about has intumescent, and incalescent—the af- it appears online in the American Heri- reached that status. However, diction- fix in- acts as an intensifier to increase tage Dictionary (2000 edition), where aries regard a long ways as a substi- the meaning of the adjective to which it it is defined as “a stupid, clumsy per- tute in colloquial, informal usage for is attached, not as a negative. son.” The noun is similar in meaning a long way. How do we decide whether to add to schmo, schmuck, and schlemiel—all The word irregardless is labeled in-, im-, or ir- to a word? Because we of Polish Yiddish origin and deriva- “nonstandard.” Most educated speakers all have “lazy” tongues, we choose af- tion. A reader found schlub in a New consider irregardless a nonword be- fixes that make the transition easy for York Times column, which rhetorically cause of its double negative. Webster’s our tongue to move from one sound asked, “A schlub beneath your sink?” Third suggests that the double negative to another. If you change the prefixes But the noun schlub has dramati- resulted from a blend of the suffix -less in the adjectives listed above, you will cally improved in meaning because of in regardless and the negative prefix ir- find that the correct prefix allows your the celebrity of one “Joe the Plumber.” (as in irrespective). However, my guess tongue to slide easily from one sound The image of a schlub, who spends his is that people who say irregardless are to the next. In language we are all con- visits under your sink or unclogging probably not the people who use the servationists. your toilet, has disappeared, and the word irrespective. However, there are a few excep- “schlub” has become a celebrity. TFL The reader who sent the question tions: The words flammable and in- labeled both expressions “improper flammable as well as radiate and ir- Gertrude Block, lecturer emerita at the perversions [that] should never, never radiate have the same meaning with University of Florida College of Law, is be used,” and she added: “Just writing or without a prefix. Both plant and author of Legal Writing Advice: Ques- this has made my teeth ache.” If that implant mean “to fix or set firmly in tions and Answers (William S. Hein reaction is typical, neither expression position,” although the negative form is Co.). She is also author of Effective will be considered standard for some almost never used, except in landscape egal Writing (5th edition, Foundation time. terminology. Press, 1992) and co-author of the Judi- But double negatives are not uncom- cial Opinion Writing Manual (Ameri- mon in English. During one speech, From the Mailbag can Bar Association, 1991). She can President George W. Bush coined the Several readers have sent in lin- be reached at [email protected] or by word misunderestimate—to the de- guistic “blends” they saw in the news. snail-mail: Gertrude Block, Lecturer light of the reporters present. Some- One new word is frienemies, which Emerita, Emerson Hall, University of times, however, prefixes that look like describes the current relationship be- Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611. negatives are not. The in of invaluable tween Governor Bill Richardson of is not a negative; it is an intensifier, New Mexico and former President Bill boosting the meaning of valuable. The Clinton, which is said to have begun in- prefix causes invaluable to indicate when Gov. Richardson endorsed Sen. an item so valuable that its worth can- Barack Obama instead of Sen. Hillary not be measured. To convey a nega- Clinton during the Democratic primary tive meaning to valuable, you must add campaign. The neologism frienemies the negative -less at the end, giving you combines “friends” and “enemies,” valueless. (But the English language is seeming to indicate erstwhile friends sometimes unpredictable; if you add who have become enemies. the same negative (-less) to the noun Another new compound is green- price, you get priceless, which means mail, which a reader detected in a re- “so valuable that its worth cannot be cent issue of Time magazine. The word calculated.”) is a blend of green (the first half of the

January 2009 | The Federal Lawyer | 45