This question already has an answer here:

Ironically, someone offered this correction:

Irregardless is a word commonly used in place of regardless or irrespective, which has caused controversy since the early twentieth century, though the word appeared in print as early as 1795. Most dictionaries list it as nonstandard or incorrect usage, and recommend that "regardless" should be used instead

Further down in the same thread, they asked, "Why do fools like you keep forgetting...", to which I replied, "Why do fools such as you keep insisting..."

So, who got it right?

Am I over-extending the lesson of my mother's pet peeve, i.e. she always corrected the TV in the '50-60s whenever she heard "Winston tastes good like a cigarette should" which properly said would have been "Winston tastes good, as a cigarette should".

Of course, today that's not seen on TV, having been replaced by "Smoking [Winston] causes lung cancer, as smoking any cigarette would".

marked as duplicate by Edwin Ashworth, Drew, tchrist Oct 20 '16 at 1:14


  • Is the question about "people like you" vs "people such as you" or is it about irregardless vs regardless? – developerwjk Oct 19 '16 at 21:30
  • In any case "like" is more natural. "Such" has become formal, and, as such, pretentious in normal conversational usage. Not as I just used it, but as you're using it, i.e. "people such as you". Of course, in fragments, it seems quite natural. Like retorting "such as?" – developerwjk Oct 19 '16 at 21:32
  • That was also the whole point of the advertising campaign. The line after that was "What do you want, good grammar or good taste?". The idea being that only pedants worry about details like this, most people use the less formal wording, and they were appealing to all these ordinary folk to enjoy their cigarettes. It also made use the pun in "good taste", which could refer to either flavor or adherence to acceptable norms. – Barmar Oct 19 '16 at 22:20
  • @developerwjk 1. The mention of his irregardless admonishment (in reply to someone else, not toward me) followed the word IRONICALLY - it was merely to point out that a self-appointed (pedantic) cop, after correcting someone else, may have strayed from proper usage himself. Hence the irony. duh! 2. The comparison was not between LIKE and SUCH; it was between LIKE, a preposition and AS, a conjunction. Nor was the question about what one may or may not consider "natural". AS is proper when the following clause contains a verb. LIKE is proper when comparing two objects. – Zarathustra Oct 19 '16 at 22:57
  • 3. @Barmar "whole point of WHAT advertising campaign"? Perhaps you refer to a later revision, which tried to spin the controversy to Winston's advantage. There was no such line in the original. "It also made use (sic) the pun"? Again, not in the original. Sorry to be so pedantic, but you omitted "of" where I inserted (sic). – Zarathustra Oct 19 '16 at 23:07

Your mom is correct. If you are calling someone a fool, the "such as" construct is correct. The like construct is used when some hypothetical group is the subject.

  • @K Dog I knew Mom was correct. I just forgot whether the same construct applies here. Researching it further, I've been reminded that AS is correct when preceding a clause with a verb, e.g. Tastes AS a cig SHOULD. LIKE compares 2 objects: He runs LIKE a girl, except that's far from PC today. Poor example, but you get the idea. For some reason, I seem to recall Mom going even deeper, explaining analogies vs similes vs metaphors, but both LIKE and AS apply to some of each. In any case, such complex grammar & a 699 verbal board score pushed me toward math and science with a 790 board score. – Zarathustra Oct 19 '16 at 23:24
