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Original poster

To ask where all these composite words have come from?

87 replies

Nunoftheother · 26/01/2021 22:53

I'm intrigued as to where these have all suddenly (it seems) appeared from. They're absolutely rife on this site and Facebook, etc.

I'm thinking of "words" such as: alot, abit, inbetween, incase, infront, eachother and quite a few others. Is it just the same process as "maybe", "tomorrow", "today", etc.?

Another thing is the common confusion between "non" and "none" (i.e. "it's non [sic] of my business"), but I suspect that's a pronunciation issue a bit like "have" being confused with "of".

OP posts:
theThreeofWeevils · 27/01/2021 02:27

Sick to the back teeth of 'everyday' - a perfectly legitimate adjective meaning quotidian, routine, run-of-the-mill, unexceptional - being used adjectivally to signify a daily occurrence.
I take the kids for a walk everyday. Stop it!

Instore is another abomination.

FlamedToACrisp · 27/01/2021 02:56

I think 'alot' is a mistake based on comparison with 'along' and 'aloud,' but I haven't seen the other compound words you mentioned.

Again, 'incase' and 'inbetween' are wrong, but reasonable when compared with 'indoors' and 'inside.' And why should it not be 'eachother,' when 'another' is correct?

In all these cases, we just have to learn the individual usage, as logic plays no part in the decision.

GraduallyWatermelon · 27/01/2021 04:21

What's the purpose of policing spelling, grammar and punctuation on social media?

I suspect it's more about smugness of those policing than any advancement of English language. I believe that if it's understandable, it's acceptable (in casual use such as in social media & texting) and I can't see the benefit of criticising.

If you feel so strongly, message the people involved and advise them, I'm sure it will be welcomed Hmm

MrsGogolsGumbo · 27/01/2021 06:17

Sometimes it's a spelling thing, I'm guilty of this a lot. See what I did there Grin

I agonise over this but don't mind being kindly corrected.

LividLoving · 27/01/2021 06:22

I hate “alot” (and its associated twattery “allot”) so much that I have to scroll past the word so it’s not on the screen. It makes me physically bristle.

Even to type it above, I’ve had to bypass autocorrect and ignore the red wiggly line.

Have this gift: hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html?m=1

PietariKontio · 27/01/2021 06:54

Language evolves, spelling evolves, pronunciation evolves, it doesn't matter at all.

My understanding has been that sentence construction and spelling in social media is more like the spoken word than the written word, and shares more similarities with how people text than how people would write more formally, e.g. work reports, etc.

I don't think that anyone, including us jolly Englanders, are really the gatekeepers of the English language's spelling and grammar, it will evolve over time and is formed and created almost unconsciously by those that use it the most.

Frankly, some of it makes sense, inbetween makes more sense than in between or in-between, and I for one will be consciously using it all the time until the world bends to my will.

Sinful8 · 27/01/2021 07:35

@Nunoftheother

I'm intrigued as to where these have all suddenly (it seems) appeared from. They're absolutely rife on this site and Facebook, etc.

I'm thinking of "words" such as: alot, abit, inbetween, incase, infront, eachother and quite a few others. Is it just the same process as "maybe", "tomorrow", "today", etc.?

Another thing is the common confusion between "non" and "none" (i.e. "it's non [sic] of my business"), but I suspect that's a pronunciation issue a bit like "have" being confused with "of".

I blame Samsung shorter space bar on the phone keyboard
percypetulant · 27/01/2021 07:43

And yet, albeit is totally acceptable.

English changes. It has dialects.

BabyYodasDad · 27/01/2021 07:43

I prefer inbetween without a space. Inbetwixt is also nice

TramaDollface · 27/01/2021 07:45

@ZoeTurtle

There's always been a lot of aloting but the others are new on me. What really annoys me is people dropping 'to be', like 'he needs told' or 'it needs changed.' Hate it.
That’s regional!
DuzzyFuck · 27/01/2021 07:50

Interested in the dialect argument for 'needs told' etc, as I can't think of many more examples where local dialect is translated to writing. I've got a broad regional accent and use particular abbreviations and words local to the region but it wouldn't occur to me to write like that.

A PP questioned why spelling is 'policed' on social media. That's where an increasing
amount of us now do the majority of our writing. If we slip into laziness here then it's going to be reflected when we actually do need to write in the real world (Job applications etc. We've had a vacancy just recently and some of the cover letters are shocking, and for a job that includes copy-writing!).

Writing is supposed to be a means of clear communication, so having it descend into a free for all is almost tantamount to us all just mumbling nonsense in speech?

hopsalong · 27/01/2021 07:57

I remember my dear, severe English teacher at school in the early 1990s railing against 'alot'.

The others are newer to me. One oddity about their formation is that the vast majority of non-verbal two-syllable words in English (and certainly all noun compounds) have the stress on the first syllable. So the compressed spelling would make more sense if we said 'alot' etc. with the stress pattern of 'ballot'.

AmelieTaylor · 27/01/2021 08:04

One poster was typing allot all day yesterday, she was also being a complete twat, it was SO tempting...

Eachother must surely have been a mistake (accidentally no space or deleted a word and not put the space back or something?!)

ErrolTheDragon · 27/01/2021 08:05

I think 'alot' is a mistake based on comparison with 'along' and 'aloud,' but I haven't seen the other compound words you mentioned.

Those are false comparisons as they don't derive from 'a long' and 'a loud' . They're more like 'another' I'd have thought.

Incase should be a word as it makes no sense anyway

'In case' makes sense to me, though maybe it's a contraction of 'in the case of...'. It maybe makes more obvious sense when there are several different cases rather than just one I suppose.

Coffeehunter · 27/01/2021 08:06

@ZoeTurtle I agree that "He needs told" is wrong
It's actually "He needs telt"

ErrolTheDragon · 27/01/2021 08:07

So the compressed spelling would make more sense if we said 'alot' etc. with the stress pattern of 'ballot'.
Or, indeed, 'allot'. Grin

StepOutOfLine · 27/01/2021 08:13

I notice the posters having the vapours about perfectly correct syntax structures don't seem to care very much for the correct use of punctuation.

OhBabooahka · 27/01/2021 08:23

Language evolves, spelling evolves, pronunciation evolves, it doesn't matter at all.

Should it evolve due to people not reading as much and therefore being unable to spell correctly? I'm not sure it should.

BertieBotts · 27/01/2021 08:23

Eachother could be confusion if the poster usually speaks a Germanic language because in German it's one word - einander.

However, my phone says stupid things all the time. The other day it put they're in place of there. I couldn't be arsed to change it tbh.

BertieBotts · 27/01/2021 08:26

@OhBabooahka

Language evolves, spelling evolves, pronunciation evolves, it doesn't matter at all.

Should it evolve due to people not reading as much and therefore being unable to spell correctly? I'm not sure it should.

Isn't this just snobbery about reading being a superior activity?

It annoys me if I see poor spelling and grammar in a professional context but on social media I can't really get het up about it. Although it is funny when someone with totally ridiculous grammar and spelling is complaining about "immigrunts" who probably speak English better than them :o

MissBaskinIfYoureNasty · 27/01/2021 08:36

The only example here that I absolutely cannot stand is "he needs told". It sounds really ignorant.

ElizaLaLa · 27/01/2021 08:44

I'm intrigued as to where these have all suddenly (it seems) appeared from. They're absolutely rife on this site and Facebook

Fuck knows because most, if not all, devices have spellchecker which also corrects grammar.

ElizaLaLa · 27/01/2021 08:44

Also cannot stand 'needs told'. And also the word 'super'.

whoamongstus · 27/01/2021 08:45

@ZoeTurtle

There's always been a lot of aloting but the others are new on me. What really annoys me is people dropping 'to be', like 'he needs told' or 'it needs changed.' Hate it.
I hate this too but didn't realise it was a regional thing, so now I feel bad (a bit).

But I can agree it's not 'incorrect' in that it's part of a dialect and language isn't fixed etc, but still find the construction annoying.

Like how it's very common where I grew up to say 'going the shop' instead of 'going to the shop' - that's a regional thing too, and it really annoys me.

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