is alright alright?

[StephanieWeippert]

I've read in two different books on writing that the word alright shouldn't be used because it makes your writing sound unprofessional. I did a word search for it and found I only use it in conversations, not in my descriptions etc., and not in every conversation either. I like having it in my conversations though, I think it makes my characters sound more real. Should I still banish it?

[scarletpeaches]

I think when people sound as if they're saying 'alright', they're actually saying "All right," which is two separate words.

You could probably get away with it in dialogue, though, but not description. 'Alright' simply isn't a word, although it's becoming more and more common. It wouldn't surprise me if it is in the dictionary, even though it gives me the heebie-jeebies.

[callalily61]

KILL IT FOREVER!

Copyeditors everywhere will praise you. Like me, for instance. :D

All right is two words. Always. No exceptions.

[Fade]

I used to put all right as just one word, but I finally took it out of my manuscript. It's easy to do. Just find and replace "alright" with "all right".

[Medievalist]

No. It is Eeeeeevvviiiiilllll.

See this (http://www.bartleby.com/61/77/A0217700.html).

[StephanieWeippert]

Ok, I will banish it. Thank you very much guys. This is why I so very much appreciate AW.

[eyeblink]

However UNFORTUNATELY it is accepted as an alternative spelling to "all right" in the Oxford English Dictionary.

[Rolling Thunder]

I refuse to give up alright. It saves a whole letter making my work even that more tight and golden.

[Maryn]

Alright will probably be considered fully acceptable by the time I die. My kids, both sticklers about written English, accept it. As my son puts it, "Maybe we should kill you now."

Kid's always thought a little ways outside the box.

Maryn, rigid and unable to change

[Robert E. Keller]

I think alright shouldn't be used because it's alwrong, and I'm not okay with ok either. Just my own friendly opinion.

Robert E. Keller
http://www.scrollsofatlantis.com/

[TerzaRima]

Mine too. Banish it from your grammatical kingdom.

[semilargeintestine]

It bothers me that "words" are put into the dictionary because people are too ignorant to realise they're not using real words.

[scarletpeaches]

I bet it sounds hot in an Aussie accent though. Now stop threadstalking me! :D

(No, don't.) ;)

[MetalDog]

It bothers me that "words" are put into the dictionary because people are too ignorant to realise they're not using real words.

That's how the English language evolves. The alternative is to try to forbid anyone from making up new words (or altering old ones via common usage) and then get all impotently angry when they do it anyway. Shakespeare was a massive offender on this front.

Some new words and phrases annoy me, but I'd rather put up with them than try to mummify the language.

[veinglory]

Given that I have only seen editors specifiy that they hate it, and none specify that they love it--better safe...

[CatSlave]

However UNFORTUNATELY it is accepted as an alternative spelling to "all right" in the Oxford English Dictionary.
Then let it stay there where it belongs, and quit wandering about and annoying serious readers.

Along with who's, irregardless and 'to be perfectly honest'...

[colealpaugh]

It bothers me that "words" are put into the dictionary because people are too ignorant to realise they're not using real words.

Agree completely.

That's how the English language evolves. The alternative is to try to forbid anyone from making up new words (or altering old ones via common usage) and then get all impotently angry when they do it anyway. Shakespeare was a massive offender on this front.

Some new words and phrases annoy me, but I'd rather put up with them than try to mummify the language.

That's fair and true, but it's become a fast moving snowball. IMHO, there's a huge difference between words being accepted into a dictionary because of ignorant over-use such as 'alright' and words such as ringtone, soul patch, and bioiesel. After all, 'wave pools' are fun.

[MetalDog]

I just think common usage should be greeted with a little less outright hate. A lot of the words that grammar gurus will fight tooth and nail to uphold now were yesterday's 'oh, that's so ignorant!' bugbears. =)

If there had been an English Académie Française, it would have tried to rob our language of a lot of its present delights.

[semilargeintestine]

I agree to an extent, but words that are added simply because people can't speak properly is a bit excessive.

[colealpaugh]

It's just that some words never leave the 'cringe' stage. On a message board, woulda/coulda/sorta/dunno and even words like 'ain't' can be fine. But 'alright' just makes a lot of people cringe, in my experience. It just feels ignorant and seems in need of correction. No hate intended. Just a discussion with words used to express the 'senses' evoked. And alright sorta evokes "stupid" instead of casual.

[maestrowork]

It should be "all right." If you use it, I'll guarantee your editor would change it.

[TerzaRima]

Sufficient to the day is the evil thereof. Alright is not presently delighting me.

[Chiquita Banana]

It's just that some words never leave the 'cringe' stage. On a message board, woulda/coulda/sorta/dunno and even words like 'ain't' can be fine. But 'alright' just makes a lot of people cringe, in my experience. It just feels ignorant and seems in need of correction. No hate intended. Just a discussion with words used to express the 'senses' evoked. And alright sorta evokes "stupid" instead of casual.



I agree that it SEEMS like most people who use it don't actually know 'alright' is wrong. A bit like 'supposebly' I think, although no one ever writes that. Lots of people say it though!

[Swordswoman]

That's how the English language evolves. The alternative is to try to forbid anyone from making up new words (or altering old ones via common usage) and then get all impotently angry when they do it anyway. Shakespeare was a massive offender on this front.

Some new words and phrases annoy me, but I'd rather put up with them than try to mummify the language.

I'd totally agree we ought to be open to neologisms. Chaucer and Shakespeare formed the language like that, and it's great it still continues.

But enshrining mistakes in dictionary tablets of stone is, I think, somewhat different. Where do you draw the line? How long before 'alot' (one word) is acceptable? Or 'Iam'? Both common mistakes, heaven help us, by people who haven't worked out what an indefinite article or a pronoun are. But they're common, right? Understood, right? Doesn't that make them 'alright'?

No, no, no, no, no. Never. Neologisms should expand a language, not shrink it to the lowest common denominator.

Please - no.

[semilargeintestine]

I'd totally agree we ought to be open to neologisms. Chaucer and Shakespeare formed the language like that, and it's great it still continues.

But enshrining mistakes in dictionary tablets of stone is, I think, somewhat different. Where do you draw the line? How long before 'alot' (one word) is acceptable? Or 'Iam'? Both common mistakes, heaven help us, by people who haven't worked out what an indefinate article or a pronoun are. But they're common, right? Understood, right? Doesn't that make them 'alright'?

No, no, no, no, no. Never. Neologisms should expand a language, not shrink it to the lowest common denominator.

Please - no.

Too bloody right.

[MetalDog]

There'd be no 'cor blimey' if you lot were in charge!

I'm going to love my alrights, ain'ts, innits and gonnas, for dialogue anyway. They annoy me a lot less than txt spk =D

[semilargeintestine]

Oh, god. Text speak is MUCH worse than alright.

[MetalDog]

If it's any reconciliation, I flew into a rage the first time I saw a Spud-U-Like.

[semilargeintestine]

Haha. What about In-N-Out Burger? Apparently a phenomenon of the US West Coast.

[Rolling Thunder]

There'd be no 'cor blimey' if you lot were in charge!

I'm going to love my alrights, ain'ts, innits and gonnas, for dialogue anyway. They annoy me a lot less than txt spk =D

Don't forget about nice colloquialisms like 'pertanear'. :D

[scarletpeaches]

Oh, god. Text speak is MUCH worse than alright.

Yeah. Bloody mongrels.

[Dale Emery]

I always thought that compound nouns such as backyard and backseat seemed wrong. I don't mind them as adjectives, but I don't like them as nouns. I'm not sure why.

Dale

[Dale Emery]

If it's any reconciliation, I flew into a rage the first time I saw a Spud-U-Like.

My favorite bad store name was: Beverages, & More! But now they've gone and changed their name to BevMo.

Dale, H: (Emery)!

[Aschenbach]

She looked all right. The engine sounded all right.

Compared with;

She looked alright. The engine sounded alright.

I see a semantic difference here between alright and all right. I would argue that alright isn't just sloppy usage, but has evolved into a distinct term.

For me alright is equivalent to okay. It isn't meant to replace or substitute all right, which by parsing the two terms carries quite a different sense.

All right seems to me to be a contraction in itself, of something like "all the parts are right". So "it's all right" is a much more positive valuation than the non commital "it's alright".

I do accept that "alright" is only acceptable in dialogue. But then again I don't think "all right" is acceptable in dialogue or narrative. There are stronger and more concrete terms available than "It was all right". Even the puny "It was good" is preferable.

[semilargeintestine]

I could see using alright in dialogue to give a non-committal image like you suggested. I would never use it in narrative or anything other than in that situation though. I also wouldn't use all right in narrative, or at least I can't think of where I would. Like you said, there are just so many better things to use.

[Mac H.]

Since the advice seems to be not to use it, I'd stick to that advice.

However, at least in my local dialect, it is a distinct word with a different meaning to 'all right'.

'All right' = 100% correct
'alright' = Acceptable

If you 'correct' alright to 'all right', you might want to be sure you aren't accidentally changing the meaning of the sentence ...

Mac

[colealpaugh]

She looked all right. The engine sounded all right.

Compared with;

She looked alright. The engine sounded alright.

I see a semantic difference here between alright and all right. I would argue that alright isn't just sloppy usage, but has evolved into a distinct term.

For me alright is equivalent to okay. It isn't meant to replace or substitute all right, which by parsing the two terms carries quite a different sense.

All right seems to me to be a contraction in itself, of something like "all the parts are right". So "it's all right" is a much more positive valuation than the non commital "it's alright".

I do accept that "alright" is only acceptable in dialogue. But then again I don't think "all right" is acceptable in dialogue or narrative. There are stronger and more concrete terms available than "It was all right". Even the puny "It was good" is preferable.

I respectfully disagree. My opinion---and it's just a humble opinion---is that there's no difference in using it either in dialogue or text. A speaker might say awlright or yallright or whatever, but alright doesn't have a unique accent or any purpose for an incorrect spelling. It's really not even a sound contraction.

Why do I suddenly feel like Felix Unger?

[tehuti88]

I respectfully disagree. My opinion---and it's just a humble opinion---is that there's no difference in using it either in dialogue or text. A speaker might say awlright or yallright or whatever, but alright doesn't have a unique accent or any purpose for an incorrect spelling. It's really not even a sound contraction.

Why do I suddenly feel like Felix Unger?

Don't feel that! This is the exact point I myself was struggling to put into words in regard to the original post. Thank you for saying it. :)

I used to be a huge proponent of "alright," but over time I banished it. Now when I see it it just looks juvenile--along the same lines as "alrite" or "tonite," you see?

While an argument can be made for using it in a character's writing--for example, say a character sticks a note to the fridge, or writes a diary entry, and "alright" happens to be the spelling they use (along with any other incorrect spellings)--I can't see why it should be used in dialogue as opposed to narration because--well, for the reasons given above. The two spellings sound exactly the same when spoken aloud so there's no reason to spell it any differently in dialogue as opposed to narration. Seriously, people can't see each other's speech when they're talking, so spelling dialogue differently does not enhance the text. A character will not see the words floating through the air and think, "Wow, she speaks all her words with the correct spelling, she must be well educated." :o If you decided to spell it "alright" just because it's dialogue, then why not go the extra step and just spell it "alrite"? That sounds the same too. But I doubt it'd get past many editors.

I realize the OP has already decided to drop the word but I wanted to put my two cents in. :D

I have nothing against new words but for some reason "alright" just grates on me, probably because I just learned over time how stupid it looks.

--Tehuti, who, oddly, tends to like and use compound words probably more than she should

[veinglory]

I don't think this discussion has anything at all to do with dialect. Alright is not accepted as standard English by a good many (most?) editors. You can do anything you want in dialogue or rendered colloquial speech.

[MetalDog]

It might really just be an area thing. I agree with Aschenbach that the words have two different connotations, at least in my locality.

'All right' being much more positive and less apathetic than 'alright'. If you say someone's cooking is 'alright' around here, it's pretty faint praise. You might even get pissed about it.

[semilargeintestine]

Just say apples and forget the whole thing. :D

[ClaudiaGray]

"Alright" is working its way into the language, but it isn't there yet. Any editor worth her salt is still going to change this to "all right," and enough of them would find "alright" sloppy that IMHO you are better off avoiding it.

[tehuti88]

It might really just be an area thing. I agree with Aschenbach that the words have two different connotations, at least in my locality.

'All right' being much more positive and less apathetic than 'alright'. If you say someone's cooking is 'alright' around here, it's pretty faint praise. You might even get pissed about it.

I find this quite puzzling. If you're speaking to somebody (not writing), how do they know whether you're saying "all right" or "alright"? (Please note some of the original post was commenting on using the alternate spelling in dialogue as opposed to narration, so this is along the same lines.)

I used to justify my own use of "alright" by defining "all right" as meaning "all correct" and "alright" as meaning "okay, fine." But as I said, I learned to drop that. I understood the potential difference in meanings, but it doesn't seem to translate into the spoken word since both sound the same.

Not debating or picking an argument, just curious.

[knight_tour]

It is sad to me that many people don't understand that languages evolve, always have and always will. There is no logical reason why 'alright' should not become the normal spelling, and for 'all right' to end up in the dustbin of history. We are just in the transitional phase right now.

[veinglory]

There si no reason why it won't--but it hasn't yet, and it may never. There is a balance in both directions unless we want to replace the MerriamWebster with urbandictionary.com. I read the question in the light of what is currently marketable and I have read multiple editors saying "alright" is a blackmark or even an auto-reject.

[colealpaugh]

It is sad to me that many people don't understand that languages evolve, always have and always will. There is no logical reason why 'alright' should not become the normal spelling, and for 'all right' to end up in the dustbin of history. We are just in the transitional phase right now.

It's 'sad'? No logical reason to change a word spelling? What about, "because it's already spelled 'all right'"?

I have no problem with new words...I love new words..I call my daughter a "drama queen" daily. I miss "supersize" fries. My characters freely "Ax sumbody with a unibrow a fuggin question..." Well, not really, but...


Knight_tour, if you smoke that cigar in my living room, I'm going to spray you with air-freshener (reference to Felix Unger compulsion).

But, hey, if the world wants to accept alright, then that's all it takes. If an editor gets a memo from Websters that it's now acceptable, then I might be in. I'd just prefer to sit on the sideline while---if---it happens and let others fight or die on the alright hill.

[MetalDog]

I find this quite puzzling. If you're speaking to somebody (not writing), how do they know whether you're saying "all right" or "alright"? (Please note some of the original post was commenting on using the alternate spelling in dialogue as opposed to narration, so this is along the same lines.)


Well - they don't sound exactly the same. It's hard to describe in text, but in a south London accent you can generally hear the second L and miniscule pause in 'All right' and the almost R'less haste of the other (particularly when it's used as a greeting).

Man with hands on hips about to start a large and unpleasant job: "All right, let's get to it."

common chav greeting: "Alwight?"

Faint praise: "It was alright."

Huge praise (predominantly American) "All right! Woo! Yeah!" *punch air*

[knight_tour]

There si no reason why it won't--but it hasn't yet, and it may never. There is a balance in both directions unless we want to replace the MerriamWebster with urbandictionary.com. I read the question in the light of what is currently marketable and I have read multiple editors saying "alright" is a blackmark or even an auto-reject.

Oh, I agree, and I would have said the same. It's just that it bothered me to see so many acting as if language is etched in stone (at least one poster actually used this image), and others actually casting insults, such as calling 'ignorant' those who are more open to languages natural evolution.

[Anna Magdalena]

I agree that all right may well be gradually evolving into alright in the same way that disinterested is rapidly coming to mean uninterested rather than without bias. However, the reason for both is wrongful usage. I don't like the way both words are going and I wouldn't ever use alright or give disinterested its 'new' meaning but I don't think there's anything any of us can do about it. (After all, the Academie Francaise hasn't stopped the spread of le sandwich or le weekend.)

Having said that, I love the way new words appear seemingly out of nowhere and enrich the language. It's when they make the language dumber that I have reservations!

[colealpaugh]

Oh, I agree, and I would have said the same. It's just that it bothered me to see so many acting as if language is etched in stone (at least one poster actually used this image), and others actually casting insults, such as calling 'ignorant' those who are more open to languages natural evolution.

No insults meant. Without rereading the thread, I'm saying that EVERY copy editor I've had in the last quarter century would kick a story back to me to make the change from alright to all right, with a note saying 'please read your AP Stylebook more carefully and stop writing like a hack'.

I'm not trying to call anyone ignorant, I'm just pointing out that alright has been seen in my business as, well, ignorant. If another news reporter has had different experiences, then so be it. But I can't even imagine it.

I would hope that a writers MB could share discussions and things like this with a bit of a thicker skin, since words are the life blood.

Being against language's natural evolution because of ONE word? One word that may be "evolving" due to misspelling. That's silly.

[semilargeintestine]

Oh, I agree, and I would have said the same. It's just that it bothered me to see so many acting as if language is etched in stone (at least one poster actually used this image), and others actually casting insults, such as calling 'ignorant' those who are more open to languages natural evolution.

I'm assuming you're referring to my post where I used the word "ignorant." I think you should go back and read the post, because you're referencing incorrectly. I didn't say people open to the evolution of language are ignorant; what I said was, I find it sad that "words" are added to the dictionary simply because people speak incorrectly enough that the rest of us just give up and concede. Just because you (general you, not you personally) make a spelling error frequently doesn't mean you're evolving the language. I'd argue that making alright acceptable simply because a lot of people think it's correct is actually dumbing down the language.

I'm all for evolution--just go the right way. ;)

[knight_tour]

No insults meant. Without rereading the thread, I'm saying that EVERY copy editor I've had in the last quarter century would kick a story back to me to make the change from alright to all right, with a note saying 'please read your AP Stylebook more carefully and stop writing like a hack'.

I'm not trying to call anyone ignorant, I'm just pointing out that alright has been seen in my business as, well, ignorant. If another news reporter has had different experiences, then so be it. But I can't even imagine it.

I would hope that a writers MB could share discussions and things like this with a bit of a thicker skin, since words are the life blood.

Being against language's natural evolution because of ONE word? One word that may be "evolving" due to misspelling. That's silly.

It was never about the word. It was about the attitude I was reading in some of the posts. People can make points just fine without resorting to insults. And, not everyone is using 'alright' because they are ignorant. Some actually choose to use it because they see it as an improvement over the clunkier original.

[colealpaugh]

It was never about the word. It was about the attitude I was reading in some of the posts. People can make points just fine without resorting to insults. And, not everyone is using 'alright' because they are ignorant. Some actually choose to use it because they see it as an improvement over the clunkier original.


Who you callin' clunky, Pal?












:)

[StephanieWeippert]

I find this quite puzzling. If you're speaking to somebody (not writing), how do they know whether you're saying "all right" or "alright"? (Please note some of the original post was commenting on using the alternate spelling in dialogue as opposed to narration, so this is along the same lines.)

I used to justify my own use of "alright" by defining "all right" as meaning "all correct" and "alright" as meaning "okay, fine." But as I said, I learned to drop that. I understood the potential difference in meanings, but it doesn't seem to translate into the spoken word since both sound the same.

Not debating or picking an argument, just curious.


It might be a west coast dialect thing, but when I say the two terms there is a slight pause between the words in "all right" and a run-on in "alright" so to me anyway (shrug) they sound different.
Since it's clear that's not true everywhere, it doesn't work in dialogue like I thought it would. :)

[Rolling Thunder]

A nice place to visit when you're not entirely sure about this.

http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/writing/englishcomp/section6.php

Bookmark it for future use. :)

[colealpaugh]

A nice place to visit when you're not entirely sure about this.

http://sparkcharts.sparknotes.com/writing/englishcomp/section6.php

Bookmark it for future use. :)

That's excellent. Perhaps my next tattoo:

"lay/lie - Lay is used when the subject of the sentence acts on a direct object. Lie is used when there is no direct object.
Julie lays down the book.
Julie lies down for a nap."

[tehuti88]

Very interesting regarding the differences in pronunciation of "alright" and "all right." I wasn't aware of that. In my part of the world (Midwestern US), one really can't tell the difference between the two unless they're put in writing--I've heard "All right!" used the way as described in posts here, but I'm fairly certain that were the people speaking it to put it in writing, they'd use "alright" just because most people here think it's the standardized spelling. I. e., nobody around here seems to realize that "all right" is the (currently correct) way to spell it, so whether they mean "all right" or "alright," they'd say or write the same thing--they see no difference in the usage. I'm probably one of the very few people around here who would even consider two meanings or spellings! :o

Granted, you have to take into account that I'm in an area where proper spelling and grammar usage aren't that high a priority to most people, including our local newspaper. "Alright" would be the least of their offenses. :Shrug:

[backslashbaby]

I believe the rapper's spelling came from the (non)word alright said in a Southern dialect like mine - you'd be surprised to see l's in the written word! As opposed to all right, which has l sounds, you see ;)