On Sat 02 Aug 2003 02:53, Adam Williamson posted as excerpted below: > On Sat, 2003-08-02 at 06:31, Duncan wrote: > > The term "a lot" is two separate words (and isn't considered formally > > correct either, BTW, "altho" colloquial usage is recognized). It means, > > as you were > > What the hell do you mean, "isn't considered formally correct"? I've > never seen any authority at all that considers "a lot" to be colloquial > or vulgar. It's perfectly standard English. http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/UsAlot.html It seems to be moving into mainstream usage. Several years ago, it was considered informal or colloquial usage. Most online dictionaries at least now omit that caveat, altho I did find one that still had it (dated 1995, when that classification was a bit more common, so no real surprise there).
University of Victoria (BC, Canada) Writer's Guide http://web.uvic.ca/wguide/Pages/UsAlot.html <Quote> A lot / Alot / Allot A lot means "a lot": "A lot of pancakes." Note that this is an informal expression. Allot means "to divide" or "to give out": "They allotted six square feet per family." Alot means nothing, and therefore is not to be used under any circumstances. [...] Copyright, The Department of English, University of Victoria, 1995 This page updated September 22, 1995 </quote> I found that listed on OneLook, along with a bunch of other dictionary listing links, here:: http://www.onelook.com/cgi-bin/cgiwrap/bware/dofind.cgi?word=a%20lot - Duncan - List replies preferred. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
