All Right vs Alright

[Ray McCarthy]

My spelling checkers all object to Alright

http://www.quickanddirtytips.com/education/grammar/all-right-versus-alright
I've read Grammar Girl before:

Today’s topic concerns three sets of words that are easy to confuse: “all together” (two words) and “altogether” (one word), “all ready” (two words) and “already” (one word), and “all right” (two words) and “alright” (one word). As we’ll see shortly, one of these six words isn't even a real word.

I think, so perhaps "alright" may only be acceptable in a character's transcribed note. Or writing using wrong spellings to indicate an accent or dialect?

 

[J Riff]

This shows up constantly and I allus end up changing it to 'all right'. Which may be 'alwrong'.

 

[The Judge]

"Alright" has been around since the late C19th, and I'm pretty sure it developed in America, but I'd not use it except, as you say, in a transcription of something written by someone who would use it.

The online Collins I use notes it as a variant off "all right" but says

USAGE The form alright,though very common, is still considered by many people to be wrong or less acceptable than all right

 

[tinkerdan]

That may well be true; but based on this link::
http://www.finedictionary.com/alright.html
::

"Alright" has been around since the late C19th, and I'm pretty sure it developed in America, but I'd not use it except, as you say, in a transcription of something written by someone who would use it.

The online Collins I use notes it as a variant off "all right" but says

It would appear there were a number of British adopters.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

The use of ' by Greengrocers is also common, maybe since 19th C. too.

I had a suspicion that this wasn't straightforward as my Cassel's and my Pocket Oxford (1952) and others have already and not alright.
The only "printed" thing with it is my Chambers Family Scrabble(r) Dictionary (2001). Not IMO a reliable source for actual writing. (unhurt, safe, feeling fine)

 

[Ray McCarthy]

number of British adopters. ... http://www.finedictionary.com/alright.html

The examples seem to be in dialogue or dialect rather than the main prose.

 

[The Judge]

That may well be true; but based on this link::
http://www.finedictionary.com/alright.html

It would appear there were a number of British adopters.

Actually, I may be wrong, as although I was basing my thought on the feel of it, the Etymology dictionary I use had this quote

There are no such forms as all-right, or allright, or alright, though even the last, if seldom allowed by the compositors to appear in print, is often seen ... in MS. [Fowler]

and for some reason I saw "[Fowler]" but thought "[Webster]" and consequently was thinking it was an American correction of American usage!

Mind, it could well be a British correction of American usage -- I'm not sure if Fowler usually commented on the provenance of such abominations.

 

[TheDustyZebra]

The only time I leave "alright" when copy editing is in dialogue. (Transcription would also qualify.) Sometimes people change them back, but at least I tried.

 

[tinkerdan]

Well if they leave the edit in that's all right::

The only time I leave "alright" when copy editing is in dialogue. (Transcription would also qualify.) Sometimes people change them back, but at least I tried.

::But if they change it back; that's alright too.

I think most that allow use the rule of okay in dialogue only.

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I just go with consistency and my mood for the particular book. If my book is rejected by a publisher or agent, or my script by a producer it isn't going to be because I figured alright was all right.

 

[Ray McCarthy]

I'll certainly worry more about other things. I was just curious. I'm not however going to use the Scrabble Dictionary as a reference.

 

[Loren]

Alright is one of those words that has gone to the historical grave.

All right is the correct modern form.

 

[tinkerdan]

This is not true::

Alright is one of those words that has gone to the historical grave.

All right is the correct modern form.

:: Without the web(internet) that might have happened; but the glorious WWW has caused a surge in the usage of alright to match 1 to 1 with all right. So yes we do frown on the usage of the strange construct alright, but it is far from dead and will likely be around until the WWW dies.

 

[Loren]

This is not true::


:: Without the web(internet) that might have happened; but the glorious WWW has caused a surge in the usage of alright to match 1 to 1 with all right. So yes we do frown on the usage of the strange construct alright, but it is far from dead and will likely be around until the WWW dies.

I thought the internet, email, and twitter were a license to kill grammar.

 

[tinkerdan]

Anyone using alright in anything except dialogue--is--probably trying to kill grammar.

I thought the internet, email, and twitter were a license to kill grammar.

But we were not discussing grammar when we said it was it was historically dead because that would assume it was alive in terms of grammar and I'm not so sure about that--though there are those who would like to bring it to life as grammatically correct.

 

[Cat's Cradle]

I'll ask the question on many minds: is 'alright' acceptable as one word in the Writing Challenges??

 

[Victoria Silverwolf]

I'll ask the question on many minds: is 'alright' acceptable as one word in the Writing Challenges??

I would guess that it would be counted as one, as would any other informal one-word version of a multi-word phrase. For example, "gimme" for "give me."

 

[Ursa major]

I'm interested (well, kind of) why 'alright' is deemed to be okay in dialogue, specifically the context in which it is.

Offhand, I can see two ways -- there may very well be more -- where spelling in dialogue veers from the story's norm (whatever the norm is, e.g. in terms of which type of English is being used):

1. where the change in spelling indicates change in pronunciation (e.g. spellin')
2. where the author is writing the narrative in a way that mimics how the PoV character (or the omniscient, but characterful, narrator) might write it.

However, 'alright' sounds, as far as I'm aware, the same as 'all right', so the first does not seem to apply. And if the dialogue is being spoken by character A, but the narration is either neutral (not attached to any character) or in the voice of a different PoV character whose spelling is not the same as character A's, why would the dialogue suddenly be written as if character A had taken control of the pen/keyboard?

 

[AnyaKimlin]

I'll ask the question on many minds: is 'alright' acceptable as one word in the Writing Challenges??

Definitely

 

[Ursa major]

With regard to Writing Challenges here on the Chrons, it is best not to assume how many words a non-standard "word" might count as; the assumption may turn out to be incorrect. Instead, contact the mods who help run the Challenges.