Q#2: What do “regardless” and “no matter what…” mean?

Thanks for the question! I just found it in my mailbox.

What do “regardless” and “no matter what…” mean?

The Dictionary says:
SYLLABICATION: re·gard·less
PRONUNCIATION: r-gärdl s
ADVERB: In spite of everything; anyway: continues to work regardless.

QUOTATION: No matter how tough, no matter what kind of outside
pressure, no matter how many bad breaks along the way, I must keep my
sights on the final goal, to win, win, win—and with more love and
passion than the world has ever witnessed in any performance.
ATTRIBUTION: Billie Jean King (b. 1943), U.S. tennis player. Billie
Jean, ch. 16 (1982).

Are they the same or different,

I suspect that the meaning is very simlar, but the usage/form may vary.

Regardless of how tough it is, we will still succeed.
No matter how tough it is, we…

Regardless of whatever kind of outside pressure (I think it’s
odd…???), ….
No matter what …

From a brief search of Google, regardless of tends to be used as an
advb only OR with a noun, ie. regardless of +N.

MSN has a nice touch:
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_1861700417/regardless_of.html

Also “No matter what” tends to be placed at the begining of a sentence
for emphasis, while regardless tends to occur mid-size. It also tends
to have a clause afterwards. (Please note, “tends to” does not mean
ALWAYS! I think you will find a lot of exceptions to this.

http://www.nozkidz.com
A lesson in English: A benefit in life!