Already has a perfectly sound basis in Chaucer and Middle English, al-redi . The al- prefix appears in many forms: alderlast == lastly or last-of-all. aldernexte == nearest to. Alderwisest == wisest of all. When Middle English wanted to separate all from another term, it did so with a hyphen, al-gates == entirely, continually, in any case. al-kinnes == all kinds, of every sort. Al-most , we join them together now, Middle English didn't. Al-thogh, al-togeder... you get the point.
Already has a perfectly sound basis in Chaucer and Middle English, al-redi . The al- prefix appears in many forms: alderlast == lastly or last-of-all. aldernexte == nearest to. Alderwisest == wisest of all. When Middle English wanted to separate all from another term, it did so with a hyphen, al-gates == entirely, continually, in any case. al-kinnes == all kinds, of every sort. Al-most , we join them together now, Middle English didn't. Al-thogh, al-togeder... you get the point.
ReplyDeleteAlrighty then.
ReplyDeleteAs a sub-editor here in the UK, I use "all right". Mark Twain be damned! 😉
ReplyDeleteThis came from my twitter feed where writers were going et tu Merriam -Webster:)
ReplyDelete