Is it normal that i write some word pairs as single words?

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18 Comments

Getting right to the point, some examples are: "alright", "alot", "eachother", and "ahold". My education has been nonstandard, but for the most part I use good grammar. I capitalize "I" and the first letter of sentences. I know what semicolons are for, though I seldom use them. I even know when it would be correct to write "cats'" and why you would never write "childrens'". And I hate txt spk as much as the next guy. But I'm convinced contractions like the above are an improvement on the standard form and keep using them even though I sometimes get criticized for it.

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71% Normal
Based on 75 votes (53 yes)
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Comments ( 18 )
  • Frosties
    12 years ago

    Do you speak German? Serious question, by the way.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      12 years ago

      No. No German. My grandma was German though, maybe it's genetic. :p

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    • suckonthis9
      12 years ago

      English is a Germanic language. Yes, it has incorporated many words from Romance languages, Latin, Greek and countless other languages, but in basic structure it is German.

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      • NoraBaker
        11 years ago

        I don't mean to be disrespectful, but isn't English sort of like a $3.99 version of a €1000 language?

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        • suckonthis9
          11 years ago

          Maybe English started out as a $3.99 version, but isn't it value-added every time it incorporates a new word? True, if that word is etymologically incorrect, is a perversion, a slang, a creole or meaningless or misleading, then it might be value-lost. How many words has High German incorporated?

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          • NoraBaker
            11 years ago

            Please, don't get me wrong. As far as word incorporation goes, I appreciate and see its beauty even in all the cases you mentioned.

            It was more a rhetorical statement than anything. I just think structure and grammar-wise English is one of the easiest languages to learn. Verb conjugation is simple, word order logical- subject/verb/objects, no inflections like Latin or German.

            And I think lovely things are written, sung and said in English. For 3.99? It's a steal! :)

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  • Who_Fan4Life
    12 years ago

    Retardposter.

    There, I did it!

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  • NormalIsOverratedBeANinja
    10 years ago

    It gets on my nerves when people do that. "Alot" is tolerable to read thanks to The Oatmeal, but it still doesn't make you look any smarter — and there's really no excuse for "eachother."

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  • squirrelgirl
    11 years ago

    I have always written videogames as one word, even though spellcheck keeps telling me it's wrong.

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      11 years ago

      Huh, I wasn't even thinking of that kind of compound word for some reason. "That kind" being the kind made with a noun and an adjustive (or sometimes two nouns), I guess. That's slightly different in my mind, somehow, but I probably do tend towards doing that too. It seems these (especially where new technology is involved, as in that example) are less likely to have a single "correct" version that people are stuck one though.

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  • GuessWho
    12 years ago

    If you're multilingual, that could be the cause. Some languages require words that "go together" to be combined.

    And we have a few compound-words in English too. E.g.
    "meaningless" "whatever" "whichever" "however" "whenever" "within" "anyway" "sometimes" "without" just to state a few, excluding words combined with a hyphen

    "alright", "alot" - These are VERY common mistakes.
    "ahold" - Not an error - http://grammar.quickanddirtytips.com/one-word-or-two.aspx

    My personal favourites: "nevermind" "nowdays"

    The cause for writing it wrong is because that's how it's often spoken, without a pause between the words.

    Ah, you probably just guessed who's the new Grammar Nazi around here.

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    • NormalIsOverratedBeANinja
      10 years ago

      Nevermind isn't a word.

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      • GuessWho
        10 years ago

        That's my point!

        It's supposed to be "Never Mind" and "Nowadays" but I like to combine them incorrectly.

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  • anti-hero
    12 years ago

    Alright, is a real word. But sometimes All right is correct, depending on the situation. What is a nonstandard eduaction?

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    • Anonymous Post Author
      12 years ago

      Home schooling. The hippie type rather than the fundie type, fortunately.

      And yeah, I know some of those words have more acceptance than others. "Alright" is accepted by pretty much everyone outside of very formal contexts, whereas on the other extreme "eachother" doesn't seem common.

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      • anti-hero
        11 years ago

        I can understand why you do it because when you say each other out loud, it has the flow of one word.

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  • [Old Memory]
    12 years ago

    I do that too. Sometimes it is an accident, but most of the time I do it on purpose. I love combining words that are not meant to go together. It's like wearing two of your favourite socks even though they are not part of the same pair and the colours clash.

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  • Darkoil
    12 years ago

    I always write alot, it just seems right because we speak it as one word.

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