irr
Explanation
The Joke
A group of people are discussing the use of the word "irregardless." One person insists on not using improper grammar, saying something like "no more saying 'irregardless' to mean 'regardless' — the double negative negation with the prefix and suffix are at best redundant." Another person counters that, by their own logic, they should also object to similar constructions. The debate continues with someone pointing out that as long as a word is understood by everyone, it functions as language regardless of its technical construction. Another person retorts that they lose faith in humanity when people are too focused on policing word usage rather than communicating.
The final panel shows the arguers continuing to debate, with the word "IRREGARDLESS" displayed prominently, suggesting the argument itself is pointless.
The Humor
The comic satirizes the perennial debate over "irregardless," one of the most contentious words in English language prescriptivism. Linguistic prescriptivists argue that "irregardless" is not a proper word because the prefix "ir-" (meaning "not") combined with the suffix "-less" (also meaning "not") creates a double negative that should logically mean "with regard to" — the opposite of the speaker's intent. Linguistic descriptivists counter that language is defined by usage, and since everyone understands what "irregardless" means, it functions perfectly well as a word.
The humor comes from the fact that the argument about "irregardless" is itself an example of the kind of pointless pedantry being criticized. The people arguing about whether the word is "proper" are engaged in exactly the sort of unproductive language policing that the descriptivist position warns against.
Broader Context
The prescriptivism vs. descriptivism debate is one of the oldest in linguistics. Prescriptivists believe there are correct and incorrect ways to use language, while descriptivists argue that linguists should describe how language is actually used rather than prescribe how it should be used. "Irregardless" has been in use since at least the early 1900s and was added to the Merriam-Webster dictionary (with a note that it is "nonstandard") in 2020, sparking renewed debate. SMBC frequently explores linguistic and philosophical pedantry, often showing how people can get trapped in recursive arguments about the rules of argumentation itself.