# Did the word "alot" ever exist? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [July 15, 2011, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150 "2011-07-15T17:57:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Lust4Life](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ecc23a/32.png) [@Lust4Life](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lust4Life)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2011, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/41 "2011-07-16T17:51:11Z")
Sounds like a false word to me. When young I believed that there was something called “The Smorning”, this I learned from hearing other people use it in conversation. When I went to school I found out that it was actually"This morning". ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 12:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/42 "2011-07-17T12:36:33Z")
> [@Lust4Life](#): > > Sounds like a false word to me. > > When young I believed that there was something called “The Smorning”, this I learned from hearing other people use it in conversation. > > When I went to school I found out that it was actually"This morning". So _you’re_ the one that messed up “norange”, “napron”, and “ekename”. 😉 ---
**Author:** ![Aspidistra](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspidistra/32/3894_2.png) [@Aspidistra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspidistra)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/43 "2011-07-17T14:34:10Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > 😕 “Cannot” has been correct English all my life (and I am fairly old now). Indeed, I would say that it has a slightly different meaning from “can not”: > > _I cannot dance_ = I am unable to dance. > > _I can not dance_ = I am not compelled to dance. Doctor Seuss uses it “wrong” in **One Fish Two Fish** - _Oh dear, oh dear, I can not hear Will you please come over near?_ Clearly with your definitions, he should have said “cannot”. Maybe it was still not quite considered kosher in the 50’s? I always remember this example because I have read that book _a lot_ ---
**Author:** ![IvoryTowerDenizen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ivorytowerdenizen/32/17937_2.png) [@IvoryTowerDenizen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/IvoryTowerDenizen)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/44 "2011-07-17T14:37:46Z")
> [@JFLuvly](#): > > Cat Whisperer > > It may be an age thing also, I am in my mid forties and as I said I distinctly remember learning that in grade school, which would have been in the 1970’s. I had noticed it in spell check occasionally but it was recently pointed out to me when I was doing some editing for a friends music and he said I made a mistake. I have no problem admitting to a mistake but I know that this was what I was taught in school, otherwise I would not have used it for 30 years. I’m in my 40s (so went grade and middle school in the 1970s, early 80s) and remember my teacher making a big deal about “no one” being two words and “a lot” being two words. In my education “alot” was never correct. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 2:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/45 "2011-07-17T14:50:39Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Doctor Seuss uses it “wrong” in **One Fish Two Fish** - > > _Oh dear, oh dear, I can not hear > Will you please come over near?_ > > Clearly with your definitions, he should have said “cannot”. Maybe it was still not quite considered kosher in the 50’s? > > I always remember this example because I have read that book _a lot_ Most likely, since Dr. Geisel’s ouevre is most widely appreciated by persons engaged in the quest for literacy (and their parents), the good doctor echewed the connotative difference between the one-word and two-word renderings of “can[\_]not” in favor of presenting his new readers and readers-to-be with two short and common words that are easily sounded out. Tso simple words a child can see Would make much ore sense to me. Distinguish croc from alligator If you insist, but do it later. A child needs simple easy stuff That still is fun; writing that’s tough. Theo. Geisel had it all filed What would cause giggles from a child. Much brighter than Bullwinkle Moose Is that rhyme genius Dr. Seuss. ---
**Author:** ![Chastain86](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Chastain86](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chastain86)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/46 "2011-07-17T16:26:01Z")
For what it’s worth, I am 35 years old and grew up in central Illinois. I do remember being taught, in passing, that “alot” could double for “a lot” in colloquialism (probably in 9th or 10th grade) and even at the time I remembered thinking, “Why would I choose to spell it that way when ‘a lot’ is the more accepted version?” So I don’t think the people that are saying they were taught that are crazy, but perhaps they weren’t given any guidelines on usage. It bears mentioning that my 10th grade English teacher, Mrs. Klosterman, also vehemently fought with me over the word “horrific,” which she swore was not a word. This was my first indication that perhaps she was an idiot. And yes, for the sake of other children she may one day teach, I DO hope you’re reading this, Mrs. Klosterman. You idiot. ---
**Author:** ![elfkin477](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/a9a28c/32.png) [@elfkin477](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elfkin477)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 4:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/47 "2011-07-17T16:42:28Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Doctor Seuss uses it “wrong” in **One Fish Two Fish** - > > _Oh dear, oh dear, I can not hear > Will you please come over near?_ > > Clearly with your definitions, he should have said “cannot”. Maybe it was still not quite considered kosher in the 50’s? > > I always remember this example because I have read that book _a lot_ You’re sure that the narrator was not deaf? Perhaps he was compelling the other to come nearer so he could read their lips. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 5:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/48 "2011-07-17T17:12:48Z")
> [@CoffinMan](#): > > Back in the day I had an English professor who declared that usage of the word “alot” would make the paper an automatic fail. A stoner friend of mine in the class was handed back his paper when the professor noticed the forbidden word in his assignment and was given the choice of correcting the paper and handing it in the next day for reduced credit or taking an automatic “F” for the assignment. He retyped it and handed it in the next day having replaced each occurance of “alot” with “lotsa” - which since he was already failing the class he thought was a really funny thing to do. > > The stoner, BTW, later found Jesus and is now an ordained methodist minister who I see from time to time. So you don’t see him alot? On a similar note, we need to make “nother” a word. As in: That’s a whole nother thing. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/49 "2011-07-17T18:46:45Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > Clearly with your definitions, he should have said “cannot”. Maybe it was still not quite considered kosher in the 50’s? > > _a lot_ I started first grade in 1949. I struggle remembering some details of early elementary school. I cannot remember when I first saw cannot in print, but I know it was in my text books in the early 50’s. I am sure the text books were more scrupulous about formal, correct usage than the good Doctor Geisel. I do follow the argument he may have done it for ease of reading. As for ‘‘alot’’ as in ‘‘a bunch’’, I never remember it as a single word before this thread. If I saw it, I may have dismissed it as a bit of sloppy writing. ---
**Author:** ![Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/5daacb/32.png) [@Ellis\_Aponte\_Jr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellis_Aponte_Jr)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/50 "2011-07-18T00:23:56Z")
Shakespeare used “cannot.” Charles Dickens used “cannot.” That word is as old as the hills. ---
**Author:** ![guizot](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guizot/32/3636_2.png) [@guizot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/guizot)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 1:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/51 "2011-07-18T01:53:40Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I always remember this example because I have read that book _a lot_ A doper after my own heart. I read it every day, and I have a shirt with the title and the eponymous fish. In fact, I posted the entire text in [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13973335&postcount=14), and [the mods chastised me](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showpost.php?p=13974467&postcount=29). ☹ Can you imagine that? ---
**Author:** ![Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/a183cd/32.png) [@Prelude\_to\_Fascination](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prelude_to_Fascination)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/52 "2011-07-18T18:32:48Z")
> [@Machine\_Elf](#): > > [The Alot Is Better Than You At Everything](http://hyperboleandahalf.blogspot.com/2010/04/alot-is-better-than-you-at-everything.html) And in that spirit, Wil Wheaton’s got it covered. 🙂 > **[Wil Wheaton](https://www.youtube.com/user/wilwheaton#p/u/5/2OPWST1c7IQ)** > > I make short, stupid videos that amuse me. > > I am easily amused. ---
**Author:** ![Ludovic](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ab992/32.png) [@Ludovic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ludovic)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/53 "2011-07-18T18:46:58Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#): > > So _you’re_ the one that messed up “norange”, “napron”, and “ekename”. 😉 Plus, he turned me into an ewt. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/54 "2011-07-18T18:48:08Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Plus, he turned me into an ewt. 🙂 (Thanks – I wasn’t aware of that example!) ---
**Author:** ![njtt](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ecd19e/32.png) [@njtt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/njtt)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 7:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/55 "2011-07-18T19:09:35Z")
> [@Ludovic](#): > > Plus, he turned me into an ewt. I hope you got better. ---
**Author:** ![SimonMoon5](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9f8e36/32.png) [@SimonMoon5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SimonMoon5)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/56 "2011-07-18T22:18:28Z")
> [@njtt](#): > > 😕 “Cannot” has been correct English all my life (and I am fairly old now). Indeed, I would say that it has a slightly different meaning from “can not”: > > _I cannot dance_ = I am unable to dance. > > _I can not dance_ = I am not compelled to dance. I remember a teacher in the 80’s teaching us that “cannot” was the correct spelling of “can not”. I don’t recall there ever being any distinction between the two other than one is always right and the other is always wrong. However, while I would obey the teacher’s wishes while in her class, I never saw the word “cannot” outside of her class, so I have ignored her lesson and have continued to use “can not” always and “cannot” never. But I always remember that lesson, even if I ignore it. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 10:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/57 "2011-07-18T22:40:25Z")
> [@SimonMoon5](#): > > I never saw the word “cannot” outside of her class" Seriously? I have never seen a professional publication use “can not.” “Cannot” is the standard spelling. ---
**Author:** ![John\_Mace](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/john_mace/32/185_2.png) [@John\_Mace](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Mace)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2011, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/58 "2011-07-18T23:06:11Z")
> [@SimonMoon5](#): > > I remember a teacher in the 80’s teaching us that “cannot” was the correct spelling of “can not”. I don’t recall there ever being any distinction between the two other than one is always right and the other is always wrong. > > However, while I would obey the teacher’s wishes while in her class, I never saw the word “cannot” outside of her class, so I have ignored her lesson and have continued to use “can not” always and “cannot” never. > > But I always remember that lesson, even if I ignore it. I had an English teacher in HS who would rake you over the coals if you split an infinitive. Other than that nonsense, she was probably the best English teacher I ever had. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/59 "2011-07-19T00:26:21Z")
awhile or a while is another tough one to keep straight. I’ll be at the library for awhile. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 19, 2011, 12:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150/60 "2011-07-19T00:45:44Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > awhile or a while is another tough one to keep straight. > > I’ll be at the library for awhile. Actually, that’s incorrect. It should be either “…library awhile” (adverb), or “..library for a while” (object of preposition – i.e., a noun). [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/did-the-word-alot-ever-exist/589150.md?page=4)