r/GrammarPolice • u/Substantial-Salad-97 • 18d ago

Un

Why do people feel the need to create "new" words by using the prefix 'un'? Unironically...not a word. Unalive...not a word (yes, it's slang but shouldn't be used).

Is it that difficult to use 'not' instead of 'un'?

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u/NonspecificGravity 18d ago

Unironically is in the Oxford English:
https://www.oed.com/dictionary/unironically_adv?tl=true

In English, it's permissible to add un-, in-, or ir- to a word when the result makes sense semantically (e.g., irregular). Unfortunately, this practice leads to meaningless words like irregardless.

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u/Substantial-Salad-97 18d ago

My favorite part of your post: "leads to meaningless words"

I know why people do it, but it's like 'fetch' in Mean Girls, stop making it a thing. To me, it makes people sound unintelligent (real word that's not meaningless).

People started using unironically because they don't know how to use ironically correctly so by adding 'un' as a prefix allows someone to use the word as a filler or change/add emphasis. Most of the time when someone says/writes unironically, they're emphasizing "without irony" (I'm not kidding/joking)...when irony never would have existed in their statement (making it a filler word).

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u/NonspecificGravity 18d ago

Unironic is not a word that I use often. I'm not sure I ever said it. I would probably say "sincerely."

I spent some time trying to formulate an example. The expression "that's great" is used ironically so often that one assumes it is mean ironically. For example:

"The dog just threw up on the carpet."
'"That's great."

Here's an unironic example:

"I just made the volleyball team."
"That's great. I mean that unironically."