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I was surprised to see both of these on a recently published spelling test with definitive spellings. I tend to view alright and alot as a more casual (or colloquial) conversational usage, and use it interchangeably, but I always wonder in print which form is best when I do.
formal): There is a lot of money.
casual): We do it alot. We go there alot. We ask alot.
formal): You got the answers all right. Everything seems all right for a moment.
casual): Alright, I'll be there in a minute. It's gonna be alright. That's alright with me. You're gonna get it, alright!
Interesting...I find it more difficult to come up with formal examples of "all right" than I thought.
I was wondering about everyone's habits of usage for these.
And does the OED sanction the alright/alot forms?
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Seems to be my night for this. The use of "Alot" and "Alright" is just ignorance. In my not-so-humble opinion. That having been said, there are an awful lot (a lot) of ignorant people out there, and in spite of my finger being jammed firmly in the dam holding back the sea of ignorance, leaks are springing up all over and I'm getting saturated. The ignorant may be dispirited about their lack of knowledge of the language. On the other hand, they may just be apathetic ... 
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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I didn't think 'alot' was a word (except with 2 l's), but I'm not at all averse to using 'alright', even in print.
(uh-oh -- I guess I've just aligned myself with the ignorant!)
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Dear CK: if "alot" of slobs use them, they are "alright".
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Oh my, Cap't K... sorry about that.. i know i use alot of just the sort of things that leave you knee deep in the water!
but think of albeit-- a word, that i think is rather common orally, is found in the dictionary, and has even been round forever (well at least since the 14th C.) but is rarely used in formal writing.. (it does it just seem that way to me.. i can't think of ever seeing it written except in the dictionary.)
it is a conjuntion of "all though it be": and its used to conceed a fact.
I always wonder how the word order gets turned round. i bet some 15th C. scholar was agast at albeit. and felt him self knee deep, awash is falling standards..
well, give up, the waters over the dam!
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Alrightnik - One who has succeeded (fem. alrightnikeh)
From Leo Rosten's Joy of Yiddish:
-nik, or -nick (Pronounced "NICK": a suffix from the Slavic languages)
This multipurpose syllable converts a verb, noun or adjective into a word for an ardent practitioner, believer, lover, cultist or devotee of something. Thus, a nudnik is someone who nudzhes or pesters. An alrightnik is someone who has done so well that he is prosperous. We are all familiar, of course, with beatnik and peacenik. The New York Times recently referred to Bachniks, and a friend of mine, dieting, wailed that it was especially hard for her because at heart she was a noshnik.
-Nik lends itself to delightful ad hoc inventions. A sicknik would be one who fancies sick or black humor. A Freudnik would be an uncritical acolyte of the father of psycholanalysis. And recently homosexuals have begun to refer to heterosexuals, with some amusement, as straightniks.
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I'm with you, CK, and I'm all wet, as well... :-(
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I wondered who was standing on my head!
The idiot also known as Capfka ...
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Yeah. They're two separate words, both times. No exceptions, at least for now.*
~~~
*she said, straddling that ol' prescriptivist/descriptivist fence.
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Pocket Oxford Dictionary at work gives alright as a disputed variant of all right
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