Nonwords: Nonsense and Science

We may begin with the word nonword, since only a few dictionaries list it as a word (but Webster’s does, as “a word that has no meaning, is not known to exist, or is disapproved”). I will begin by focusing on the third listed meaning.
Some words that were disapproved a century ago are now legitimate and familiar: accountable, answerable, donate, jeopardize, practitioner, presidential, reliable, and contact (as a verb). There is a good reason for these words to become standard; they are useful! And yet some nonsensical nonwords continue to fester in conversations among the less-informed. The two main culprits are irregardless and preventative. Using these two words is especially unjustified as they both have simpler equivalents: regardless and preventive. Though many dictionaries include preventative (and sadly, Microsoft word does not underline it in red), preventive is found 5 times more often in print.
Irregardless, on the other hand, is totally unacceptable because it confuses the meaning of regardless, the word that actually means what the speaker intended. This provides a “teachable moment” as education jargon-mongers love to refer to. Next time you hear the word irregardless, politely interrupt the speaker and ask “Excuse me—do you mean regardless.” She or he will probably pause as they realize that irregardless sounds like it means the opposite of regardless, even though that is what he or she really meant. The entire conversation may stop here.
Regardless, nonwords should be avoided. Some come from trying to make a word that is already an adverb into one by adding an unnecessary ly, as in doubtlessly, seldomly, thusly, and muchly. One can only laugh at (and perhaps feel sorry for) people who come up with the following the abominations uncatergorically, unmercilessly, and unrelentlessly.

There are also interesting scientific studies of nonwords. Contrary to conventional wisdom that had scientists believing for a while that it takes longer to process meaning of letters embedded in words, and longer still for letters in words in sentences, the contrary is true. In fact, words in sentences do not even need to be spelled correctly to be read. For words of 4 letters or more, all you need is the first and last letters to be correct, and the other letters may be shifted without keeping you from discerning the words. Don’t believe it? Read the passage below:
I cdnuol t blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg.
The phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabr igde Uinervtisy, it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are, the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer bein the rghit pclae. The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit a porbelm. Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.
Amzanig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt!

But spelling still is important, as it takes longer to read the scrambled passage that an unscrambled one. There are still many unanswered questions about what is really going on when we “read.”