On Fri 01 Aug 2003 21:39, Joe Baker posted as excerpted below: > On Fri, 2003-08-01 at 21:01, Gary L. Greene wrote: > > On Friday 01 August 2003 09:34 pm, Joe Baker wrote: > > > For installations where there are allot > > > > [] > > That certainly helps allot.
I was going to reply to this privately, as it could be more appropriate there, but then realized this is common enough to warrant public posting.. This isn't intended to be a spelling flame, or to embarrass anyone, as someone kindly pointed it out to me as well, for which I am grateful, as it is an all to common and understandable mistake. The term "a lot" is two separate words (and isn't considered formally correct either, BTW, "altho" colloquial usage is recognized). It means, as you were attempting to use it above, "a large quantity of", or "frequently". The term "allot", OTOH, comes from the old idea of casting lots.. It means to distribute or portion out. Example use as in a last will and testament: "To each of my three children I allot 25 percent of my estate, with the remaining 25 percent to be allotted equally between the following five charities, five percent to each." In my case, and I suspect most others where this mistake is made as well, I originally attempted to write "alot", but the spell checker didn't like that, and offered "allot". Many spell checkers won't offer "a lot", because it is two separate words, tho the meaning of the two together is different than the separate words alone. (Yes, "tho" is deliberate. <g>) I knew "allot" didn't "look right" as used, but until it was pointed out to me, I couldn't explain what was wrong with it.. Hopefully, my pointing it out here will be as helpful to others as having it pointed out to me has been. That is certainly the spirit in which I am writing this, anyway. -- Duncan - List replies preferred. "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety, deserve neither liberty nor safety." Benjamin Franklin
