Poll: Wasting alot of time

[floopdawoop]

Did you just see a big furry creature in your head?

No, it's not a typo, this is about the non-word "alot". I really think people should give in, and stop correcting it. Language does evolve, new words are added to the dictionary everyday, so why not make alot an official one. Sure it started off as an amalgamation or a typo of 'a' and 'lot', but its become its own little abbreviation thanks to general use. I'm not saying it should mean the exact same thing as 'a lot' but maybe it can fit in as an adverb.

E.g.: "I've been corrected by the grammar police, it stings alot." or "Dang, he took alot of grammatical beat downs."

Opinions?

 

[sky14kemea]

No.

I should elaborate.

This is kinda like encouraging people to make mistakes "Because hey, maybe one day it'll become a real word anyway?". It's not really an abbreviation either, since they're supposed to make words shorter. All this does is removes the space inbetween, it's not that much of a cut down.

Besides, who doesn't love posting this little guy when someone makes that error:

Don't take away our cute little Alot!

 

[Vegosiux]

No.

I should elaborate.

This is kinda like encouraging people to make mistakes "Because hey, maybe one day it'll become a real word anyway?". It's not really an abbreviation either, since they're supposed to make words shorter. All this does is removes the space inbetween, it's not that much of a cut down.

Besides, who doesn't love posting this little guy when someone makes that error:

Don't take away our cute little Alot!

Sneaky mods, closing threads like this.

As in, saying all that needs to be said.

 

[Eclipse Dragon]

Don't take the alot from me. It's a source of my internet enjoyment.

 

[Chairman Miaow]

It always bugs me when people have a go at grammar nazi's. Yeah, language evolves, but that doesn't mean there aren't rules and logic governing it. If we don't care whether somebody says alot or a lot, or weather or whether, then we might as well not bother teaching spelling, go back to the old way of "Sure, whatever, that can have a p in it." And then we will end with more Happisburgh's. And nobody wants that.

For those not familiar with happisburgh: http://www.pronouncenames.com/pronounce/happisburgh

 

[Daystar Clarion]

Language evolves, this is true.

Being lazy/ignorant of word spacing, however, is not one of those instances

Besides, we don't want people getting it confused with the animal.

 

[Fappy]

Language evolves, this is true.

Being lazy/ignorant of word spacing, however, is not one of those instances

Besides, we don't want people getting it confused with the animal.

Is that a real alot!? Holy shit he's adorable!

 

[floopdawoop]

Language evolves, this is true.

Being lazy/ignorant of word spacing, however, is not one of those instances

Besides, we don't want people getting it confused with the animal.

Bleh I give in, the furry alots can keep their word I guess.

Though, they could always add that description to the dictionary..

 

[Terrible Opinions]

I'll be honest, the second I saw the thread title, I thought of the yak-beast.

Use of "alot" to mean "a lot" doesn't bother me too much. Now, "could care less"? That's a god damn paddling right there.

EDIT: And moving away from the easy jokes, this is basically a "do you like your linguistics descriptive or prescriptive?" poll. Neat.

 

[Spade Lead]

It is incorrect because it doesn't make language easier, it actually makes it harder, because now you have the more formal, business-use "A Lot" and the informal "Alot."

"Couldn't care less" I could not care less. "I like this thread alot" I like this thread a lot. What is next? Thismorning for "this morning?"

 

[FalloutJack]

All arguments aside, all it takes is a minor update to the english dictionary to add a definition and the world moves on, seriously.

 

[Ieyke]

How 'bout "brontuyuby" for "brought to you by"?
Saw that one in the "childhood misconceptions" thread and had endless fun saying it out loud.
You can't NOT sound Russian when saying it.

XD

 

[Reaper195]

Alot is not a word. A lot is two words. Mixing the two together would be like saying "People say Gonna instead of going to....we should make Gonna an official word.". NO! People simply stop being idiots.

 

[Daaaah Whoosh]

I think words like 'alot' should remain in the realm of internet slang. It should by no means become formal; I already don't put enough words into my essays, there's no reason to make it worse.

 

[Ruedyn]

I use alot alot. Mostly to troll my grammar nazi friends. I couldn't care less if they make it official or not.

 

[Arakasi]

You fail at making polls when you put an option on the poll which draws me away from the question.
I really really like polls, by the way.

As for the topic question, thanks to Hyperbole and a Half, seeing someone write 'alot' makes me grate my teeth.

 

[Olas]

Ya, add it, it's one small harmless addition to the English language that would save teachers and professors alot of time.

 

[Marter]

Doing that is how the dictionaries started accepting "irregardless." Apparently even Chrome's dictionary counts it as a real word, as this is the first time I've ever typed it in this browser, and there's no red line under it.

Basically, we don't want this.

 

[Owen Robertson]

Folks, English is the dirtiest, most vernacular infested, incomprehensible language on Earth. It makes almost no fucking sense. I'd rather not elaborate but here are some pluralization's: House - Houses; Lion - Lions; Goose - Geese; Moose - Moose; WHAT THE FUCK?! There's no consistency. So OT my answer is yes. I'm already used to putting a space between a and lot and I'll continue to do so, wether or not alot is a word. I just think getting in the way of it is dishonest to the heritage of this strange language.