Thursday, October 8, 2009

All right already...

The Chicagoland Chevy Dealers have done it again!

But this time it isn't the lowest prices of the year, or zero percent financing, or anything that's going to predispose us to buy a Chevy.

For that matter, there's sore little that would predispose us to buy a Chevy. Their most recent grammatical faux pas, though, will certainly keep us from considering buying a Chevy for some time to come.

"Alright, Chicagoland" read the titles on a recent television ad.

Never mind our distaste for "Chicagoland," a made-up word whose very existence has bothered us since we were in elementary school.

Our distaste for the abuse "alright" instead of "all right" will keep us considering German, Swedish, Japanese, and even Korean cars for some time to come.

Maybe even Italian, as our sons have a sudden and disturbing fascination with Lamborghinis.

But not American. Not as long as the quality of their grammar reflects on our perception of the quality of their cars.

We toss the idiot flag at them today.

All right?

2 comments:

Unknown said...

Well, all righty now. According to the OED, "alright" means "just exactly" whereas "all right" appears as the 13(c) in the second definition of "right" as an adverb meaning in due or proper order. Clearly, then, the phrase which sounds to our ears as either spelling has a non-standard (i.e., non OED) meaning approximating "Now listen up" (fairly, it may be in the OED under "All" but I did not see it in my quick look). My point is this: I don't think there is anything wrong with the spelling "alright" in the context opf an advertisement, as either spelling appear to be appropriate and the meaning in context is non-standard and colloquial.

Unknown said...

Oh, and p.s., I had a lot to drink with you last week, but don't remember discussing Sarah "Lady Gaga" Palin. I trust that was another of your friends.