“Alot”

What an absolutely bleeding heart response. And a response that shows how very very wrong it is to make assumptions about other posters' circumstances when you know nothing about them.

You couldn't be further from the truth as regards my granddaughter. School( and I) were her saviours. Due to the very unfortunate life choices and behaviours of her parents which were incompatible with caring properly for a child, she was removed from their care and came to live with me.
So she has had very many issues to deal with, yet still managed to be able to learn how to spell properly.

Me and DP did XYZ. Teeth-grinding fodder.

It happens ahuge amount. It’s very annoying.

We seen/we done - I've heard this from supposedly educated people.

And vice versa with those two!

Would the phonetic dictionary description refer to someone with a RP accent? It may be the "correct" pronunciation but due to regional variations, not everyone is going to say it the same.

However as I've found out on here, regional variations do not exist - you are mispronouncing the word 🙄

Yes, like that.

The whole issue of prescriptive vs descriptive is pretty knotty. Yes, dictionaries are descriptive to a point and will list changes when they are widespread and "accepted" enough (and of course deciding when that moment has arrived is a tricky one for lexicographers). But they do not describe all common usage; otherwise, they would list "alot" as an option, which they don't, not even the Cambridge ;) (It's just listed as a common misspelling.)

We very much use them as an authority as well, which you yourself have just done, which suggests prescription rather than description.

It would also be completely impractical to go just with description. Taken to its logical conclusion, that would mean that anything could be used in any way or with any meaning, which is completely impractical for communication purposes.

There's also the issue of some dictionaries carrying more authority than others. Amongst the professional linguists I know, the OED is rated much more highly than other dictionaries.

One thing doesn't seem to change though: language use and language change are very emotionally charged subjects.

I was surprised not to see a link to Hyperbole and a Half's post about 'Alot', but I assume that's the one that keeps getting hidden?

It instantly makes me think the person writing it is not very clever, no matter what else they've said. I can't bear it.

"I have went..."

Also cue.

Que, queue and cue are used interchangeably on MN.

Was this the story about the A lot? Sort of a mythical beast that types and is really quite loveable?

I’m a teacher and read the blog like reading a story to my class. They love it and I don’t have to correct ‘alot’ in their work. It’s a great blog.

I've seen the most worst spelling and grammer mistakes on the internet alot! recently. Its' asif people download these in correct terms. They start separating words and joining otherwords to gether. Are they literate? Am I a s'nob? Don't no but it really grinds my gear's I'll tellya!

I would rather have atrocious spelling than be as judgmental as lots on this thread. My child has terrible spelling and punctuation and I can assure you that no amount of education, reading, spellcheckers or otherwise help them spot every or even most mistakes. But it’s nice to know that they’re going to be labeled as thick, stupid, lazy and all the other charming labels on this thread 🤬

Annoys me no end. My mum is terrible for doing it, both alot and abit. I told her it was wrong and she was genuinely surprised, despite being very well read. When I pointed out she'd never seen it used in a book, she said it was text speak and therefore acceptable. Same as using 'tmrw' when letters are no longer restricted in any way!

I suspect your grandchild probably had a far better start in life than a lot of other children. It's pretty hard to engage at school and remember things when you have a tough beginning. Nearly a third of children in the UK are growing up in poverty. What do you think is priority for them at school? Survival? Worrying about their parents? Wondering why Dad left? Coping with a community rife with drugs and antisocial behaviour? Learning to spell?

Once you get past childhood do you think you automatically learn things you missed at school or does life continue to kick you in the arse as you grew up in poverty?

I suggest a lot of posters look into studying social mobility. Classing people as lazy or stupid is such a black and white way of looking at something that is so, so embedded in society and so complex.

What, like this?

https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english/sloth

Dictionaries are descriptive, not prescriptive, anyway.

Actually. It can be. I wouldn't use it, though.

If you look it up, you'll see the pronunciation written underneath (using phonetic symbols).

The dictionary. That's what I mean by codification vs actual usage by some people.

Ditto sloth (which actually rhymes with "both", not "cloth").

The incredible arrogance of believing you hold the secret of "how to pronounce words."

Says who?

Napron, norange and nadder aren't the same as alot though: they are examples of phonological units (sounds) simply being attached to first one unit of meaning (word) and then another, known as rebracketing. They're not examples of grammaticalisation, which often (but not always) involves once separate forms joining together. However, they are both examples of language change.

The difficulty is the stage between something being incorrect (which "alot" is now) to becoming an accepted form that is codified in reference works. Those who use a form incorrectly are wrong and, rightly or wrongly, are judged by those who don't. I would absolutely correct "alot" every time a student used it (and I do correct the same mistakes time after weary time) and am very frustrated by incorrect usage of all kinds. But at some point, "alot" might well become a codified form.

The same goes for the misspelling and mispronunciation of the word mischievous, which drives me mad.

The word homage has undergone a rapid change in pronunciation recently. I can only find the anglicised pronunciation codified ("homidge", with the stress on the first syllable) but only ever really hear the French pronunciation ("homarj", with the stress on the second syllable) these days.

Ditto sloth (which actually rhymes with "both", not "cloth").

Oh yes, I forgot that one!

An adder was originally a nadder.

It is so bizarre to me. Like ‘a’ isn’t literally the easiest word to spell in all of English.