I admit I can be a teeny bit pedantic at times and am easily annoyed by misused apostrophes and so on, but where do these words come from? Did someone just wake up one day and decided the word ‘regardless’ just doesn’t work anymore, so let’s call it ‘irregardless’ instead? Sometimes what seems just plain wrong to my ears can be American English, while in Australia we speak UK English. Well, we did, but we’re becoming more and more Americanised, which doesn’t bother me too much; it’s inevitable so there’s no point losing sleep over it. When I started hearing people say they were ‘in agreeance’ my first thought was that it was plain wrong, then maybe that it was American. It’s not in any of my dictionaries and certainly doesn’t pass my computer spellcheck, but when I Googled it I found it may have actually been used once upon a time and has been replaced with ‘agreement’.
That opens up another argument about the evolution of language; we know English has changed and is continuing to change, whether we like it or not. I’ve heard the word ‘literally’ has been misused so much that it’s now accepted to mean–well, not literally at all, so nothing really. Nope–I’m not accepting that one.
If you want to say we’re in agreeance, please say we’re in agreement, or better still, simply say we agree! I suspect many people make mistakes with their language because they’re trying to sound better educated than they are; they use phrases like ‘at this point in time’ rather than ‘now’ and ‘back to back’, which always reminds me of a silly poem my father used to amuse us kids with:
One fine day in the middle of the night
Two dead boys got up to fight
Back to back they faced each other
Drew their swords and shot each other
It goes on for several verses, but anyway, I digress, as usual. While I’m griping about the misuse of words, my all time favourite is ‘myself’, which so many public speakers use when the correct word would be ‘I’ or ‘me’. For more on this and other easily fixed language problems, check out ‘What Did You Say?’ FREE all the time at Smashwords. See my Amazon page for all my other books.
Chris Gardner 
May 28, 2015 at 6:45 pm
We can.
May 28, 2015 at 7:18 pm
Thanks. No disagreeance then.
May 29, 2015 at 6:01 am
Christine–As a patriotic American, I really must defend my country here. I have never EVER heard an American say ‘agreeance’, which sounds just as awful to my ears as to yours. Whose stupid idea was THAT? Ugh. I too care about using the language right, which to me means saying things as simply and directly as possible. Fat fewer errors that way, and everyone knows what you mean! I think you should be arrested for saying ‘orientated’ or spelling judgment with an e. But that’s just me…
May 29, 2015 at 9:55 am
Totally agree on your judgement for the use of ‘orientation’, Susan. I suspect the ‘e’ you dislike in judgement might be UK English, but not sure. Seems right to me although I’m not bothered by US spelling–it generally makes a bit more sense and I’m all for that. I find myself writing a mixture, having been brought up with UK English and now having written (and read) the US version it can get confusing.
May 29, 2015 at 10:18 am
Just put z’s wherever you usually put s’s and you’ll be speaking and writing completely American English!
May 29, 2015 at 3:37 pm
Well, I’m an American too, and I’ve heard it plenty! It may be where the Aussies got it from, but why would anyone think that American English is the best format for English? We call it English because it came from England, right? Maybe I’ve had too many British English professors. Anyway, I am in perfect agreement that agreeance really ought to go. Just like “anyways.” But then that s on the end used to be standard for that word too!
May 29, 2015 at 4:27 pm
I think the reason US English is spreading so much is Hollywood.
May 30, 2015 at 1:25 am
Hollywood got it started, and the internet keeps it going.
May 29, 2015 at 7:32 am
Agreed!
May 29, 2015 at 11:06 am
Okay Zuzan! I do like my ‘u’s in neighbours etc though. I agree it makes no sense but it just looks better to me. I think I’ll just continue to do what comes naturally; most of my readers are from USA but I’ve had no complaints about spelling. I guess you’re used to the differences as much as we are. I did write some books for a US publisher using US spelling and my mother rang me when I sent her a copy, quite shocked at my spelling mistakes!
May 29, 2015 at 12:29 pm
I completely agree with you. I was brought up on a more proper English and listening to some people talk (the ones in the government are scaring me), I can’t help but look at them with a stupid expression.
May 30, 2015 at 5:32 am
I am not keeping up. I had never heard of ‘agreeance’ before you mentioned it. (Even though you ‘wrote’ about it instead of ‘spoke’ about it.) I am usually irritated by the use of ‘less’ instead of ‘fewer’ for things that can be counted.
June 7, 2015 at 3:28 pm
Personally myself, after due consideration of the salient points , I infrequently find myself in overwhelming concordance.
June 17, 2015 at 7:40 am
“Normality, agreeance, irregardless, and orientated” are just WRONG. It has nothing to do with Aussie, American or Brit. It’s all about IGNORANCE.
June 17, 2015 at 9:17 am
Thank you. I think there is such a thing as justifiable homicide, and hearing people say, “I was disorientated” should be high on the list. Whenever I hear that, I feel like hitting them very hard–so they’re even MORE disorientated. (These are usually the very same people who pride themselves on their marvelous writing ability! Go figure.)
July 15, 2015 at 4:22 pm
Don’t even get me started on prideful! Loved your post, and the comments it provoked show we’re not alone in!