WHAT is a lot?????

musicman53 said:
I already said I like doin it on purpose..........................
can ye not understand laddie(or maybe lassie)......................
I know exactly WHAT I am doin.
Anyway...............
at least I don't use "Exposed"instead of"Suppose"
Language happens to be my forty(I mean forte)but I like messin around with it OK???
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No Swearing.














Sometimes I say 'No Swearing' when I mean 'good post'.
Honestly.
 
Inquisitor said:
No it's not; the new word is no shorter in pronunciation or spelling than the original other than that a space has been removed. The only effect it's had is to make it less clear that it in fact means 'a lot'.

There's no need to contract 'a lot' into 'a lot' as it doesn't make it easier to pronounce or write and removes the meaning inherent in its original form.
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removing a space does make it shorter and easier to type :rolleyes: its one less key stroke or less time spent with pen off of paper :)

Its easier to understand too, as it is read quicker and has been around for about 10 years that I'm aware of so is much more recognisable in written form.

And why does how its pronounced have anything to do with this we have words with silent letters, what's the point in those?
 
Tefal said:
removing a space does make it shorter and easier to type :rolleyes: its one less key stroke or less time spent with pen off of paper :)
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That's not why people do it though is it? Besides, one space's worth of time saved in writing or typing 'a lot' rather than 'a lot' really isn't worth making a new word that makes no sense grammatically.

Tefal said:
Its easier to understand too, as it is read quicker and has been around for about 10 years that I'm aware of so is much more recognisable in written form.
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Again, no it's not: 'a lot' means that you have a quantity of something that we call a 'lot', and that it's in the singular (from the singular article 'a'). It's also grammatically correct in that you have a noun preceded by an article, usually followed by whatever it's quantifying. If you turn it into a single word, however, you not only remove that meaning but also break the sentence grammatically.

Tefal said:
And why does how its pronounced have anything to do with this we have words with silent letters, what's the point in those?
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Where did I say that spelling should match pronunciation? :confused:
 
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Tefal said:
Its easier to understand too, as it is read quicker and has been around for about 10 years that I'm aware of so is much more recognisable in written form.
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It doesn't really make it easier to understand. At best it makes no difference, at worst it makes it harder to understand as you need to make the mental calculation "a lot"= "a lot".
 
Man, I love the little things teachers used to correct, so you'd never make the same mistake again :)

Can still remember, about 10 years ago, I wrote a lot for a piece of work in R.E. class, and the teacher had marked it but crossed out a lot and put a lot there instead :p
 
AcidHell2 said:
Some people are rubbish at English, but can be very good at other things.
Just because your good at English, does that mean your as good as someone else in a diffrent area?
Everyone has diffrent gifts.
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We are not talking about being good at English. We're talking about being at least mediocre at English.

It bothers me when it's normal to regard having a basic level of competence with English as being good at English.
 
Angilion said:
We are not talking about being good at English. We're talking about being at least mediocre at English.

It bothers me when it's normal to regard having a basic level of competence with English as being good at English.
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What you need to do is not post on the interweb if it bothers you that much .
Lock yourself up in your room ,i bet your the one that writes in to Collins dictionary`s and complains they got some entrys(sp) wrong .
Do us all a favor and shoot yourself in the keyboard;)
 
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Zefan said:
I find it disturbing that people would write "then" in place of "than" without thinking there's anything wrong with it.
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I would find it disturbing if someone went around pointing out that someones sig was 2k over the limit hmmmmmm:p without thinking there's anything wrong with it
 
yozzer2001 said:
What you need to do is not post on the interweb if it gets you angry and bothers you that much .
Lock yourself up in your room ,i bet your the one that writes in to Collins dictionary`s and complains they got some entrys(sp) wrong .
Do us all a favor and shoot yourself in the keyboard;)
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I don't see him getting angry there :confused:
 
What do you do when you have to write letters of complaint for example? Or apply for jobs? If I was an employer and a letter came in using words such as "a lot", they'd go straight in the bin.
 
You know, you could apply the same logic to yourself: if it bothers you that people are bothered by such apathy then you could just not pay them any attention. Do us all a favour and don't post here ;)
 
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