The Alright All Right Dilemma

[hells_half_acre]

I have a problem with the words "all right" or the word "alright" depending on the day.

My problem is that it causes one of those...conflict thingies in my head.

1. I believe in the evolution of language. I believe that "alright" should be a word and that is how it should be spelled. I think it reflects how people SAY "all right" - as one word, not two. 
2. I really really hate it when I spell things wrong or have gross grammatical errors.

So, I never know when I'm writing whether I should write "alright" even though I know that it's blatantly wrong, because I want to encourage it to be officially accepted as the standard spelling - or if I should be writing "all right" because that is the proper thing to do, and I have a Masters, damn it!

The only way I have solved this so far is to avoid the words "all right/alright" like the plague and use "okay" instead or some other word. Of course, for those who read my Demented'verse, you'll probably have noticed that I use "alright" all the time in it - a fact that actually makes my fingers itch when I read it. That being said, when I read "all right" in other people's fics, I don't like it, I want them to use "alright."

Anyway, I don't know what to do about this problem....and somehow I doubt this keeps other people up at night.

Comments

[borgmama1of5.livejournal.com]

I'm sorry, but this...really doesn't fit into the catagory of things I worry about :P

But I love you anyway :)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Ugh, I hate being me sometimes. I really don't know what to do with myself. :P

But I'm glad you love me anyway! ;)

[katsheswims.livejournal.com]

It doesn't keep me up at night, but it definitely bothers me.

I think I actually use both forms of different occasions. I think I use 'alright' to mean something like okay or general agreement, and I use 'all right' to mean everything is correct or something like that.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, see, that's what they SHOULD be used for.

"How are you doing?" "Alright."

"How was the movie?" "Alright."

"Are my answers on the homework correct?" "Yes, they were all right."

Except, that's not the case, because technically "alright" isn't a word and ALL those should be spelled "all right" even though it really doesn't make sense instinctively to me.

Ugh...English. I hate it.

[akatsukichii.livejournal.com]

Now, I'm no grammar nazi, you can tell by the fact that I typed "I'm no grammar nazi". Nope actually I regret typing that. Anyway, I realize that "alright" is not technically recognized as a real word everywhere, but growing up (I'm still rather young) I have never been corrected on the usage of "alright" in fact I did not even realize it was not considered a "real" word until a few years ago! I feel odd reading "all right" in a sentence as my brain interprets them differently I realize there would be a comma somewhere if this were the case but I feel like a sentence such as "They were all right" could mean that all of them were correct versus "They were alright" which meant they were okay. I feel the usage of this word is common enough without any kind of juvenile negative connotation (like YOLO or LOL I felt disgusting just typing that) to be used when writing. Although not exactly this problem keeps me up at night little problems that make no difference on other persons daily life but feel iffy to me keep me up at night. Also Microsoft Word never corrects me so I feel no guilt over this. (I do feel irritated when it corrects me on the spelling of colour). This was a long comment and I apologize on my atrocious grammar and punctuation.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I feel odd reading "all right" in a sentence as my brain interprets them differently I realize there would be a comma somewhere if this were the case but I feel like a sentence such as "They were all right" could mean that all of them were correct versus "They were alright" which meant they were okay.

Yes, exactly!! Oh man...see, we just need dictionaries to catch up with the way we're using the language. If a dictionary would just put this in their frickin' book like they do with some of the other stupid stuff we come up with...for chrissakes "tweeps" was added to Oxford in 2012.

like YOLO or LOL I felt disgusting just typing that

Haha, I like you.

Also Microsoft Word never corrects me so I feel no guilt over this. (I do feel irritated when it corrects me on the spelling of colour).

True, maybe I should just declare MS word as the authority and just use "alright" and not obsess over it anymore...

I set my spell-checker to "Canadian English" which means that it doesn't get offended at my use of "colour" or "favour" or "neighbour"...though, I'm ashamed to admit that it DID force me to use Zs instead of Ss in words like "realize" and "civilize", because apparently Ss used that way are British English, not Canadian.

[akatsukichii.livejournal.com]

It's fine to obsess over things although it will probably annoy you every time you set to write something even if you tell yourself that you shouldn't be worried...

I set my settings to Canadian English all the time it just seems to dislike me and revert. Canadian English is weird though many people are confused as to what is the correct form of a word seeing as we're using British English (well part of it) and bordering USA a but of crossover is bound to happen.

Well it was fun discussing grammar with you so I shall proceed to add you as a friend (there's really almost no point in adding me back because I only use this account to comment).

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I agree about Canadian English. I once got a mark off on an English assignment in High School for spelling "traveled" incorrectly, until I brought in an Oxford dictionary and showed the teacher that my version was also an acceptable spelling. :P (I think I was reading a bunch of British books at the time.)

Yay! Friend! I don't often discuss grammar, but hopefully you don't regret the decision. ;) I also very rarely flock posts, so, I think we're good to go.

[harrigan.livejournal.com]

I bet there is some respected source that says it's okay to use either, as long as you are consistent in how you use them.

For myself, I cringe just a little bit every time I use 'who' when I know 'whom' is correct. But sometimes (even outside dialogue) I know it would take the reader completely out of the flow to hear perfect grammar, so I make allowances. (Though I confess, I think this is the only exception I make. It *always* makes me cringe to read 'lie' when it should be 'lay' or vice versa.)

ANYWAY -- especially in dialogue, I think it's okay to use gonna, and it's okay alright to use alright.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

True. I just need to fast-forward several years to a point where the grammar-nazis are over themselves.

See, who/whom doesn't bother me as long as it's believable dialogue. This means that Sam and Dean shouldn't say "whom" but that Sherlock Holmes should.

And to tell you the truth, I have no idea when to use "lie" and when to use "lay." I re-word whole sentences to avoid both...but really, I should just look it up again and try to memorize it.

ANYWAY -- especially in dialogue, I think it's okay to use gonna, and it's okay alright to use alright.

Yay! Well, that vote makes me feel better.

[percysowner.livejournal.com]

After having the edit function fail 3 times and the delete not delete, I'm trying again

Usage Discussion of ALRIGHT
The one-word spelling alright appeared some 75 years after all right itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted alright is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than all right but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<the [...] —>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

After having the edit function fail 3 times and the delete not delete, I'm trying again

<i>Usage Discussion of ALRIGHT
The one-word spelling alright appeared some 75 years after all right itself had reappeared from a 400-year-long absence. Since the early 20th century some critics have insisted alright is wrong, but it has its defenders and its users. It is less frequent than all right but remains in common use especially in journalistic and business publications. It is quite common in fictional dialogue, and is used occasionally in other writing <the first two years of medical school were alright — Gertrude Stein>.
First Known Use of ALRIGHT
1887</i> From the Merriam-Webster Dictionary.

If it's okay by them, it should be good enough for me.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

It's because of the < brackets used by Merriam-Webster...

But GOOD TO KNOW. Thanks. Oxford says to avoid "alright" simply because people don't like it, even though it's just like "altogether" and "already". I guess it just suffers from being new.

It's definitely nice to see that it's "quite common in fictional dialogue" which is always when I want to use it the most.

[mymuseandi.livejournal.com]

I have the exact same problem, and I "solve" it by using both versions randomly :) It's not the best way, but the part of my brain that champions fairness thinks it's the best way haha..

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Haha, yeah, I'm not particularly fond of being inconsistent, so that doesn't work for me...plus, I honestly don't like "all right" I don't know, my brain is a weird place.

[tipsy-kitty.livejournal.com]

Okay, I was just hopping over to your site for a quick minute to check out the SPN timeline, but I feel the need to defend your dilemma. Mostly because? I posted an incredibly smutty fic yesterday in which I noted that there really needs to be a usage dictionary of porn :) I hate not knowing with any consistency whether certain terms are one word or two, etc. (I'll not get into the specifics here!)

Anyway, like percysowner pointed out, traditionalists are against "alright" but it will probably be accepted even by them in the next few years. My usage dictionary notes that this has long been the case with "all together" / "altogether," and "all ready" / "already." But those words have been accepted since the Middle Ages, and "alright" is a lot newer.

So at least you're worrying about actual words and not smutty terms like I am! Your master's degree is clearly being put to better use than mine :D

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Man, a usage dictionary for porn would be awesome....although now I'm extremely curious about what words you would check. Haha...

Anyway, it sounds like I just have to imagine that I'm living in a future world where "alright" has been around for hundreds of years like "altogether" :P Yay new words! Boo old rules!

So at least you're worrying about actual words and not smutty terms like I am! Your master's degree is clearly being put to better use than mine :D

Haha, I don't know...I think that might be up for debate. ;)

[marlowe78.livejournal.com]

I'm completely baffled.... it's NOT a word???


But I'm pretty sure I learned it as a word in school! My online-dictionary is also - watch it! - alright with that word. So... I'm pretty sure you are allowed to use it ;-)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

well, that's good! It makes me feel better about using it. Most English dictionaries will have an entry for it, but then tell you not to use it. :P