Ok, we know KS3 kids still need to be taught that alot & aswell are not single words...

[Ponders]

...but apparently they also need to be taught that "essay" is a word, & not the abbreviation SA (what they think SA stands for goodness knows!)

(my informant is a secondary school English teacher - we got into this via a discussion about whether anymore is a single word or not. Of course it is in some contexts, but some spellchecks don't like it, & she's wondering now whether it's safer to try to steer them away from the single word altogether)

(or doesn't it really matter...? )

My English teacher told me this when I was at school 15 years ago so it's not a new thing.

But tbh there are loads of stupid shortened versions of words going around that it wouldn't surprise me if kids thought it meant something else but didn't want to ask.

I'm an English teacher. 'Alot' really annoys me, but I have never seen a pupil use SA for essay.

I remember a girl in my class using SA instead of essay. We decided it stood for story about....

Maybe I was the girl in your class Elk, as I got it confused once. I was about 8 and haven't misused it since though.

the language is evolving, and so alot may become part of the language, depends on whether it is regarded as common usage!
albeit, altogether etc... have evolved otherwise we would still be speaking in ye olde.....
PS where is the complete English language defined?