Page 5 | “Alot”

TheClanoftheDook · 2025-10-11T11:46:36+00:00

Appreciate I’ll be called all the arseholes for this one. But I am actually interested. I see this constantly. On here. In real life. On another thread, there is an apparent “commercial lawyer” using it. Why? Where does it come from? How are people looking at “alot” and thinking it’s a word? Aren’t you having to fight the autocorrect to use it? I did. It autocorrected my title more than once. So. If you use “alot” - why?

Shortpoet · 12/10/2025 11:03

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TeaRoseTallulah · 12/10/2025 10:58

I am absolutely certain in the 70s we were taught this at school, I have to really stop myself using it now 50 years later !

RaraRachael · 12/10/2025 10:57

inequalities · 12/10/2025 10:43

I can't believe nobody has mentioned 'of' where it should be 'have'. This one has to be the world's worst.

Heard frequently here - "I should of went" - even from educated people

Blinky21 · 12/10/2025 10:50

It's like apart when people mean a part, (ie, a part of me) drives me mad!

inequalities · 12/10/2025 10:43

I can't believe nobody has mentioned 'of' where it should be 'have'. This one has to be the world's worst.

MasterBeth · 12/10/2025 10:42

TheClanoftheDook · 11/10/2025 14:02

What so basically if enough people make a mistake, the mistake becomes correct?

No. I refuse to accept that.

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How long are you willing to hold out on that because alot of the acceptable language you're using today was someone else's "mistake" 50 or 100 years ago?

GreyCloudsLooming · 12/10/2025 10:29

cherish123 · 11/10/2025 20:49

Rarely. However, only acceptable as a noun. It's less common nowadays.

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No, not even as a noun.

ScrambledEggs12 · 12/10/2025 10:23

Pomped · 12/10/2025 08:24

“Needs gone” I hate - seen on Facebook marketplace etc.

Same with “needs done”.

However, something in the back of my mind tells me that it’s something that alot 😉 of Scottish people use?

It's common in Cumbria. It used to annoy me, I'm used to it now!

ScrambledEggs12 · 12/10/2025 10:21

I wrote alot, my Year 7 English teacher corrected me, so I didn't do it again.

SafeSex · 12/10/2025 10:18

LeaderBee · 11/10/2025 15:10

I think i heard this about the word Apron, which infact, used to be "A pron" whatever a Pron was...

Or A Napron, i cant quite remember.

Edited

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It's a napron. I think it was the same with a norange as well.

SafeSex · 12/10/2025 10:15

cherish123 · 11/10/2025 13:07

YANBU
It's wrong but people's spelling, grammar and punctuation are shocking nowadays.
You see - alot, incase, thankyou (when used as a verb).
"A huge thankyou to John" - is fine
"Thankyou very much" - is wrong because it's a verb. It should be - "Thank you very much".

"A huge thankyou to John" - is fine

Not sure where you've got this from as it's not correct either. Did you not notice the red line under it?

I see "incase" on here more often than "in case", but the one that really makes me cringe is "eachother".

MarisPiper92 · 12/10/2025 10:08

If "alot" and "abit" are siblings, "aswell" is their cousin.

RaraRachael · 12/10/2025 10:00

@Pomped I'm Scottish and don't say "Needs gone", nor do I hear it said. However I'm in the NE so it could be a Southern thing as they say quite a lot of words that we don't.

However"Can I get?" is the normal thing to say in shops here so I hate it when English MNers clutch their pearls at how ignorant or American it is.

EsmeSusanOgg · 12/10/2025 08:51

I do think autocorrect has a lot to answer for. There are some frustrating things it does, especially if you are typing quickly. The insistence of adding apostrophes where they do not need to be (we're instead of were when they mean different things. Always trying to put it's even when it should be its) or defaulting to US spellings can be infuriating.

I, I suspect like many others, am usually on my phone and typing quickly between doing other bits and bobs when I am on mumsnet. This means typos and autocorrect mishaps slip through more readily.

I have to confess, I thought I'd have a nose at the differences between 'a lot' a lot and allot for good measure. There's a very helpful breakdown on this on Grammarly - https://www.grammarly.com/blog/commonly-confused-words/a-lot-alot-allot/

“A Lot” vs. “Allot” vs. “Alot”: What’s the Difference?

The English language is teeming with idiosyncrasies that can cause confusion, including differentiating between a lot, alot…

https://www.grammarly.com/blog/commonly-confused-words/a-lot-alot-allot/

dailyconniptions · 12/10/2025 08:30

VickyEadieofThigh · 11/10/2025 13:05

And 'are' instead of 'our'.

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Also passed instead of past.

Pomped · 12/10/2025 08:24

“Needs gone” I hate - seen on Facebook marketplace etc.

Same with “needs done”.

However, something in the back of my mind tells me that it’s something that alot 😉 of Scottish people use?

cherish123 · 11/10/2025 20:49

GreyCloudsLooming · 11/10/2025 14:12

“Thankyou” is never spelled as one word under any circumstances.

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Rarely. However, only acceptable as a noun. It's less common nowadays.

ACatAsleepInYourHat · 11/10/2025 15:36

Whaaat? That was a perfectly innocuous link to an mildly amusing blog page - what's going on, MNHQ?

ACatAsleepInYourHat · 11/10/2025 15:34

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LeaderBee · 11/10/2025 15:10

JarellQuansahsGolfClubs · 11/10/2025 13:46

I get that it's annoying (and it annoys me too) but "alot" is slightly different from a lot of the other annoyances people are talking about as it's part of a linguistic process called grammaticalisation. 🤓 Briefly, this is where a lexical/content item becomes a grammatical item over time. It often involves words joining together that previously were separate. So here, a + lot +of (determiner + noun + preposition) is becoming alot + of, and will most likely eventually become alotof (determiner) - maybe not in our lifetimes but eventually. So brace yourselves!

In the same way, thank + you (originally verb + pronoun) is becoming thankyou (more obviously an interjection or exclamation).

I think i heard this about the word Apron, which infact, used to be "A pron" whatever a Pron was...

Or A Napron, i cant quite remember.

RaraRachael · 11/10/2025 14:42

I find it's more common to see alright than all right nowadays.
I go with what I learned at school many moons ago and nobody would have written alright back then. But that was in the days when people knew how to spell and use grammar correctly.
My dad left school at 14 with no qualifications but he never made a SPAG mistake.

GreyCloudsLooming · 11/10/2025 14:12

cherish123 · 11/10/2025 13:07

YANBU
It's wrong but people's spelling, grammar and punctuation are shocking nowadays.
You see - alot, incase, thankyou (when used as a verb).
"A huge thankyou to John" - is fine
"Thankyou very much" - is wrong because it's a verb. It should be - "Thank you very much".

“Thankyou” is never spelled as one word under any circumstances.

YouMightLikeCats · 11/10/2025 14:07

TheClanoftheDook · 11/10/2025 14:02

What so basically if enough people make a mistake, the mistake becomes correct?

No. I refuse to accept that.

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I remember using 'alright' at school and being told it wasn't a word - it should be 'all right'. I was amazed, went to look it up, and my teacher was indeed correct. I've googled it again and am still a bit confused - looks like formally it shouldn't be used, but "all right" seems very old-fashioned!

Original poster

TheClanoftheDook · 11/10/2025 14:02

JarellQuansahsGolfClubs · 11/10/2025 13:46

I get that it's annoying (and it annoys me too) but "alot" is slightly different from a lot of the other annoyances people are talking about as it's part of a linguistic process called grammaticalisation. 🤓 Briefly, this is where a lexical/content item becomes a grammatical item over time. It often involves words joining together that previously were separate. So here, a + lot +of (determiner + noun + preposition) is becoming alot + of, and will most likely eventually become alotof (determiner) - maybe not in our lifetimes but eventually. So brace yourselves!

In the same way, thank + you (originally verb + pronoun) is becoming thankyou (more obviously an interjection or exclamation).

What so basically if enough people make a mistake, the mistake becomes correct?

No. I refuse to accept that.

OP posts:

VickyEadieofThigh · 11/10/2025 13:49

The error I see most often on Mumsnet that makes my brain itch is "I/he/she done".

Another I just don't understand is why people are described as going gym/pub/etc, e.g.

He goes gym every day.

How can anyone think this sounds right?