Comments on: Is “alright” all right?

By: Kirk Hale

Kirk Hale — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 23:52:54 +0000

I cannot believe this. I am 54 years old and have thought that ‘all right’ was the degeneration of ‘alright’ into just one version.

All right is self explanatory.

“Are you all right?”

The above to a Southerner, such as moi, could very well mean, “Are you (collectively) correct?” as opposed to alright meaning “okay.”

I’m no grammarian but I am someone who refuses to punctuate while texting and I do know when to use the right two, to and too.

By: Cindy91

Cindy91 — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 20:35:29 +0000

I came here to clarify my conundrum… have had it for years. Thx so much!

By: Joke

Joke — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 13:36:48 +0000

Alright, ‘all right’ wins.

By: Matthew

Matthew — Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:26:51 +0000

I never use “alright”. I can’t stand it.

By: Dawn

Dawn — Sat, 11 Jun 2011 22:55:32 +0000

To me, “all right” sounds incredibly stilted. When writing dialogue, which is primarily where I would use the term, “alright” looks much more like it belongs in the flow of a conversation. Reading “all right” instead immediately pulls me out of the fiction, it just looks so awkward.

I concede that, in formal writing, “all right” ought to be preferred, but I would argue that in formal writing, one would want to avoid “all right” altogether, as it isn’t a very formal term to begin with.

I look forward to the day when “all right” fades gracefully into the sunset as just one more archaism, and “alright” takes its rightful place in the sun.