15 words that people say aren’t real – but are

The English language is complicated, to say the least, and sometimes the rules just don’t make any sense. Especially with texting being such a staple in today’s communication, abbreviations, contractions and other words that just don’t sound as if they possibly could be considered legitimate have become English language staples and have even been added to our dictionary. English is wacky so we’ve compiled a list of words that people don’t believe are actually real, but have been declared authentic by Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

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First things first: Why would anyone still say firstly instead of first? Ordinal numbers such as first, second, and third serve as both adjectives and adverbs, making the adverbs firstly, secondly, and thirdly redundant. While most grammarians agree would say that firstly is considered “inferior” to first, it is a word that people use, even if the best example given in the Merriam-Webster Dictionary – “Firstly, gather all the ingredients together” – sounds a bit awkward.

Merriam-Webster says “the most frequently repeated remark about irregardless is that ‘there is no such word.’ There is such a word, however.” It has been used (mistakenly) in place of regardless since the early 1900s and has now been admitted into dictionaries. So even though it is a word, irregardless is still far from being widely accepted. And judging by the scorn it receives online, it won’t be widely accepted anytime soon. Merriam-Webster’s advice: “Use regardless instead.”

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Prolly is taking over for probably in text messages, but its origin goes back much earlier: the 1940s. Considered a “relaxed pronunciation contraction” (like gonna and outta), prolly even shows up in the Oxford English Dictionary. But you should definitely only use prolly informally, as in: “U prolly don’t like that I said prolly when u asked me to marry u.”

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Dating back to the 13th century, anyways was gradually shortened to anyway. Today, it’s only used colloquially, as in: “I’ve been blabbing about myself for hours. Anyways, why are you leaving?” The word is considered superfluous: Most dictionaries list it as an informal synonym for anyway. The Oxford English Dictionary goes a step further. It identifies anyways as being of North American origin and gives this snobbish example: “You wouldn’t understand all them long words anyways.”

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Like irregardless and anyways, orientate can be used but shouldn’t. The word originated in British English in the 1840s as a variant of orient (both mean “to determine bearings”), with still the preferred usage. Even so, many people use it interchangeably with orient (and disorientated for disoriented). A Collins Dictionary entry reads, “We’ve taken so many turns I’m completely disorientated.”

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The past tense of sneak is sneaked, so why have people stuck with snuck since the 1800s? It’s a mystery; no English verb that ends in the -eek sound has a past tense ending in -uck. But dictionaries have adopted the made-up word. Random House Dictionary explains, “Snuck has occasionally been considered nonstandard, but it is so widely used by professional writers and educated speakers that it can no longer be so regarded.” In response, grammarian James J. Kilpatrick lamented that Random House’s “tolerant view has not snuck up on me; it has sneaked up on me. I will have none of it.”

Meanwhile, here are 10 almost-extinct words you should start using right away.

Word snobs may get mad if you say madded, but it is, in fact, a verb. Merriam-Webster gives this example: “Her endless excuses for not doing the work madded her overburdened coworkers.” Less cringeworthy, and also recognised by dictionaries, is the adjective maddish. For example, when Uncle John gets sent to Hawaii in the dead of winter for a “business trip,” we’re happy for him but also maddish.

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Impactful was invented by advertising agencies in the 1960s to describe their campaigns as “having a big impact.” (These are the same “madmen” who coined lite and signage.) All three words are detested by grammarians; impactful even made it onto Harvard Business Review blogger Bryan A. Garner’s list of “65 Forbidden Buzzwords.” But it’s now in the dictionary, so it’s a word.

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We’re gonna shock you with this one. Yes, gonna is a word – and it has been since 1806 (the same year the word litterateur was created, which strangely, is a real word as well). So, next time you think you’re “short-texting” when you type “gonna” instead of “going to,” grammatically speaking, you’re not incorrect.

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