Language.

You guys are allot of fun.

die

My language teacher in grade 10 told me that alot was not a word and if we used it she'd kick our asses.

So, there you go. Ms. Hobbs and I are right. :D

*digs out English dictionary*

Accoring to George Ostler, the forth (old dictionary, btw (1969)) edition of 'The Little Oxford Dictionary of current English (not so current now)' says that:

Allot (v) : Assign; distribute by lot.
Allotment (n): Assignment; small plot of land for cultivation.

*EDITS*

A LOT is an adverb. AN ADVERB. According to dictionary.com, they say that:

A lot: adv : to a very great degree or extent.
eg: "we enjoyed ourselves a lot", "she was a lot interested". Got it?

AS for 'alot', it is an acronym, meaning that each letter stands for something, like Dr. Unne said :D.

ALOT = Adaptive Large Optics Technologies
ALOT = Allotment (yes)
ALOT = Airborne Lightweight Optical Tracking

So, my conclusion is that ALOT is also the short form for ALLOTMENT. NOTE: ALLOT-MENT, not ALLOT.

Thank you very much for your attention


Order of Figaro

Quote:

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Originally posted by MecaKane
My language teacher in grade 10 told me that alot was not a word and if we used it she'd kick our asses.

So, there you go. Ms. Hobbs and I are right. :D

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Eeewww...Sounds like my 10th grade English teacher...Only she threatened us if we said "How come?" Languege teachers are evil...Well, alot of them are...:rolleyes2 BTW, there is no "alot" in the dictionary I just looked in.

I also have to point out that what is and what isn't a word is not a matter that one person can dictate to another, especially not to a group. If enough people use the word, lo and behold, it is eventually assimilated into the language and is considered to be a word. That's one of the contributing reasons to the exponential growth of language.

Quote:

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Originally posted by LH
That's one of the contributing reasons to the exponential growth of language.

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... Unfortunately.