THOUGH: modern music, e.g. rap, is abysmal!
LOL, no kidding! I guess it just depends what you're most sensitive to. It may be pomposity on my part but I'll always think "irregardless" is wrong no matter how long it's been around. What's worse is to correctly say something like "regardless of the consequences," and have some illiterate "correct" me to "irregardless, etc."
Yes, language is in a constant state of change. I try not to be pedantic because that's foolish. Still, it greatly concerns me that fine shadings and subtleties in literature and conversation, commonplace in the 50s and 60s, seem to have been lost forever. Maybe I'm romanticizing the past. But a large and important literary heritage seems to be beyond the grasp of many, maybe most, Americans today. I'm encouraged though that a fine wordsmith like Mark Steyn is so widely appreciated here on FR. And there are some fine writers in their own right here as well.
As for rap music, what's that? I get nearly all my music from recordings of my choice, and rap's not even on the list.