They're not irregular, they're unique. While there is great fanfare about the value of grammar. I think if a word is used, and the listener knows what is being talked about, it's spelling and grammar work, and the dictionary is wrong. A dictionary is not so much an authority, but a reflection of words and language.
That's no doubt a disputed opinion. One example ( It seemed funny at the time) We used the word 'boring' to describe English class, the teacher said boring was not a word, because it was not in the dictionary. She showed us (It was a very small dictionary) We decided that the dictionary was wrong, because boring was a word, and if it wasn't English class was still boring.
A few of...

They're not irregular, they're unique. While there is great fanfare about the value of grammar. I think if a word is used, and the listener knows what is being talked about, it's spelling and grammar work, and the dictionary is wrong. A dictionary is not so much an authority, but a reflection of words and language.
That's no doubt a disputed opinion. One example ( It seemed funny at the time) We used the word 'boring' to describe English class, the teacher said boring was not a word, because it was not in the dictionary. She showed us (It was a very small dictionary) We decided that the dictionary was wrong, because boring was a word, and if it wasn't English class was still boring.
A few of us had 'issues' with the teacher, so I did the top math class, while I could just understand some of it, I Knew I was going to fail English. The crunch came when Jane Austin (My teachers favourite) was required
reading. I read Persuasion, saw the movie Pride and Prejudice, and decided that Jane Austin was a spinster, writing 18th century mills and boom.I refused outright to read P&P. Many of the essays contain exactly what I thought and more. The teacher would start crossing the essay out by the line, then expanded to take the page in. I got 0 for most essays and saw it coming. I knew I had hit a nerve when I found out other English teachers were heard laughing when they read the essays because they weren't as sentimental about Jane Austin. The teacher contributed half of the mark of the final exams.
I really just wanted to write the story, but also the idea just because an English Teacher says something doesn't mean it's so. How do English teachers deal with text messages. Can they keep up to date?
Sometimes a word can be unused for a while, and rediscovered. All languages are now being directly and intimately affected by interaction with other languages. The Esperanto Syndrome. Some words have come back into use because they are championed, some because they are trademarks.

pokkets, that's the old battle between proscriptive and prescriptive grammar. Grammarians tend to describe and teach language proscriptively, i.e. on the basis of rules, whereas linguists tend to be prescriptive, i.e. basing their views on actual spoken usage.

It was the dissemination of print that limited the ability of language to change and froze word forms. Were it not for printing, we would probably have trouble reading letters written just a couple hundred years ago.

It's true that the number of irregular forms in English has decreased over the years. If you've ever studied Old English (pre-1066), you'll appreciate this. However, the degree of regularization has fallen sharpl...

pokkets, that's the old battle between proscriptive and prescriptive grammar. Grammarians tend to describe and teach language proscriptively, i.e. on the basis of rules, whereas linguists tend to be prescriptive, i.e. basing their views on actual spoken usage.

It was the dissemination of print that limited the ability of language to change and froze word forms. Were it not for printing, we would probably have trouble reading letters written just a couple hundred years ago.

It's true that the number of irregular forms in English has decreased over the years. If you've ever studied Old English (pre-1066), you'll appreciate this. However, the degree of regularization has fallen sharply since the introduction of printing and the spread of literacy. I don't think the trends mentioned in the article are as certain as stated, and I say this from the perspective of having degrees in both English grammar and Linguistics.