All right vs. alright?

[Larry_OHF]

Originally posted by Callum: All you all?

Hey...Spain does the same thing in Castillian.
They use "vosotros" which is the equivalent to "y'all" in modern speech.
They do not care for "vos" in Mexico. To them, its just plain silly.
That's the same with how everyone scoffs at us using "you all".

[Brayf]

The day "alot" makes it into (in to?!) a respected dictionary is the day I start learning Mandarin Chinese.

[Timber Loftis]

今天學習你的中國人的開始，然後。

[Aelia Jusa]

Originally posted by Larry_OHF: Language grows and changes to fit the culture and needs of those using it. Its a tool for expression...to get an idea across. Don't we live by enough restrictive rules in life without having to worry about this?

Well yes, but there is a good reason for those 'restrictive rules' - ease of communication. There are standard spelling, grammatical, and morphological rules because if it were a free-for-all understanding what someone has written would be much more difficult. Especially in English with the excess of homophones. Whenever someone here mixes up there/their/they're or whether/weather it takes me a few seconds to work out what they mean, which correct spelling avoids.

There's also a big difference between spoken and written communication. Spoken communication can afford to be much more fluid and casual. You can say 'alotta' and because of the way it sounds it is easily understood, but written it is more difficult to figure out. (I also don't really know why you would want to write 'alotta' since writing 'a lot of' isn't any more long or difficult, and it isn't exacly formal or pompous to write 'a lot of'...).

I also think there's a difference in how language changes because of the culture and the time, and the addition of words that reflect people being lazy or ignorant with regard to correct usage. Adding words because of new technology, or because there isn't a really appropriate word to suit the situation (like the way sportscasters like to make verbs from nouns, which does come with its own set of provisos, like with the unfortunate 'lactating' some athletes were said to be doing ) is different to words like 'supposably' becoming acceptable, which have only come about because people mispronounced 'supposedly' - that sort of thing offends me because there's no need to create the new word supposably because there's a perfectly good real word that actually makes morphological sense.

[Timber Loftis]

Sometimes it's efficincy, not laziness. There's a backlash against the word "alright" which has only been around for a century or so, but the contractions "already" and "although" are accepted more because they've been around since the middle ages -- not because there is any qualitative difference.

[Aelia Jusa]

'Always' too, I guess. I don't actually have anything against alright even though it seems unnecessary - it isn't saving anything really - an l and a space - and it isn't reflecting different pronunciation.

It's also important to remember the context in which 'new' words that reflect more casual ways of talking are placed. It's fine to write 'wanna' or 'alotta' on a message board or in a letter or similar, because they are kind of proxy for spoken communication. In more formal settings, like news papers or professional reports or journal articles or school assignments, etc., it's not acceptable and nor should it be. Like with contractions like 'couldn't' or 'don't' - you're specifically taught in school how to use apostrophes to shorten certain words to reflect spoken usage, but even though words like that have been around for ages, it's still not acceptable to use a contraction in a formal piece of writing.

[Larry_OHF]

My neighbor Anthony is black and comes over alot to use my telephone. When he gets on that phone and starts talking to whoever he is talking to, asking them who knows what...you'd think he was talking a totally different language. As many times as I have heard him speak to another black person, I have never understood one word...no not one.

Once, I was sitting out by my front door when he asked me, "yawnchiyaa' did"?

I asked him twice to repeat what he had just "akst" me and I finally understood that he was saying "You want your yard did?", meaning did I want it mowed...meaning could he mow it for me for money. [img]smile.gif[/img]

Living in this area, one does not correct another's grammar...one just has to accept what the world has become around us all. I'll never be able to change them for the better, nor could the school that Anthony dropped out of, by the way.

[Sir Goulum]

I use all right and alright interchangably, don't hold any preference to one or the other.

[Sever]

Originally posted by Callum: Really? People use alot? Interesting. And I'd just like to point out that the plural of y'all isn't y'all. Y'all isn't singular in the first place...

[img]graemlins/hehe.gif[/img] Check out the Elder Scrolls forums some time. People there ignore you unless you've got bad spelling and grammar. sometime its worth speling things rong just too get a question's answerred. alot people stoopid and say you are dum.

[edit: Er, that's the official Elder Scrolls forums, BTW.]

[ 09-24-2005, 02:22 AM: Message edited by: Sever ]

[Sever]

Originally posted by Brayf: The day "alot" makes it into (in to?!) a respected dictionary is the day I start learning Mandarin Chinese.

Relax man. We'll be long gone by then

However, learning Mandarin or Cantonese may be a useful skill before our time is up...

[edit: Does 'useful' set off any pet peeve alarms? [img]smile.gif[/img] ]

[ 09-24-2005, 02:27 AM: Message edited by: Sever ]