I hear you on "irregardless." However, "orientate" is completely correct and common in the UK, albeit annoying to the North American ear. Just one of those lovely cultural differences, I guess. Avoid going to London with anything sharp.

It's more common in the UK to say ' Orientate'... but it's still not a real word. Like 'Kinda' or 'Sorta'... it's used a lot... but not actually an accepted thing.

I kinda think it might just be sorta coming into the common lexicon... but I hope not! Adding a syllable or two to a word that already means the same thing as what we already have a word for? That's kinda sad.

What do you see being the difference between these two words? Used in parallel...

I was lost in the woods, so I had to orient myself.
vs
I was lost in the woods, so I had to orientate myself.

Orientation is the act of orienting oneself... knowing which direction you point. Orientating... is then.... what? Orientating oneself?

I also don't tend to think adding 'Bling' to the language was a good idea... but obviously many newer generations seem to think me wrong!

Damn nice of you to comment on this, though... even if it is a Wurfuzzle!

Preaching to the choir: I was an English major. Orientate is a word that makes no sense, etymologically, but it is firmly in the UK lexicon as well as the Oxford dictionary. I learned to be patient with my UK colleagues at work and resist the urge to make stabbing motions.

It is up there as one of my pet peeves, next to overuse of "quotes" for "emphasis" mixing up its/it's and your/you're, treating "media" as a singular form, and redundancies like hot water heater and ATM Machine. Don't even get me started on the whole phenomena of internet-speak lest I reveal how neurotic I really am. Phew. I'll show myself out now.

WOW!!!

We share the same pain! "lol"

It's amazing how the modern medias 'degenerate' so quickly...

"ATM machine"... yeah... I'd have to punch someone for saying that around me!

Mind you, languages do evolve - sometimes quite rapidly - and so it might seem devolve just as fast. Maybe its just the tendency of anything to hover at the breaking point between what is 'right' and 'what is accepted as the lowest common denominator'? Imagine the vocabulary in common use during say the Victorian age and compare it with the stunted abomination we currently suffer.

Even a fool back then may have speaked better than we do! ;-P

( I do like the advent of 'smileys', though. Why bother to attempt richer dialogs when 3 characters can convey one's REAL meaning!? )

Yeah, Orwell is a significant muse for me. Not just 1984 but his essay Politics and The English Language.

As for the visual punctuation of smileys, the day may come when we commnicate in nothing but. etc. For artists, this isn't necessarily a bad thing!