Just need to vent...

In elementary school a double tanker gasoline semi truck would pass by with "inflammable" warnings pasted on it. It was always perplexing.

 

Someone is well regarded because they are rich.
Regardless if he is rich, he is still an oaf.
Irregardless if he is rich, he is still an oaf.

I understand the last two as the same in speech if someone uses either, even written, even though ir isn’t right. I wouldn’t pay any attention to it personally since the meaning is understood by now.

 

It is perplexing so I had to look it up and didn’t know they had an answer for it.


“Flammable vs. Inflammable
Both words mean the same thing, but one of them is bound to confuse most people.

What to Know
Flammable and inflammable look like opposites, but they both describe something that ignites easily and burns quickly. While the prefix in- is most familiar in its “not” meaning, as in inactive and inaccurate, the in- in inflammable is another prefix altogether: it means “to cause to be,” as in the words indent and indebted. Using flammable for what burns and nonflammable for what does not burn is an option if you want to ensure clarity.”

 

It's cause English is a pigdin language. The in- prefix is coming from more than one langauage where its meaning is different in each.

 

The thing that helped me as a kid to understand inflammable was to consider the word inflamed, which meant more than just flamed. Thus, it could be construed that inflammable, was more flammable, than flammable.

.

 

the one that used to get me was ruthless, because i never heard anyone say ruthful

 

Seems the word is actually just ruth. Compassion, pity, or another synonym just gets used. My spell check is even flagging ruth.

Looks like those in- words were borrowed from French, with roots in Latin. Then some English speaking Latin scholar took that root word flammare, and stuck the -able workhorse to it for flammable.
inflammable | Etymology of inflammable by etymonline
Flammable vs. Inflammable: What's the difference? | Merriam-Webster

 

I knew pidgins were smart but not that smart. I guess birds can talk so It makes sense now why texting in English can be a disaster.