Rep. Doug Collins’s (R-Ga.) usage of the word “irregardless” in remarks he made during the House’s debate over the impeachment of President Trump on Wednesday, prompted the term to surge to Twitter’s list of top trending items.
The moment came shortly after Collins stood up on the House floor to take aim at House Democrats over the handling of the impeachment inquiry into Trump’s dealings in the Ukraine, calling the process partisan in nature.
“But there is one thing that I will mention all along, and that is, also, the Founders were very concerned about a partisan impeachment, in which politics of the majority who have their strength can do what they want to do, irregardless of any facts,” Collins said.
His usage of “irregardless,” a controversial term that is used by some instead of the word “regardless,” immediately went viral online. Within hours of his remarks, over 11,000 tweets have been posted with the term.
Others were quick to also note the moment’s arrival a week after the third season of “The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel” dropped, during which the show’s main character, Miriam, engaged in a hotly-contested debate with her husband over usage of the word.
The moment even prompted Dictionary.com to weigh in on the controversy from its official Twitter account.
The controversial use of the word, or non-word by many’s standards, has earned “irregardless” its own Wikipedia page. Its usage is listed as “nonstandard” by a number of dictionaries, including Oxford.