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> From: Daniel Klotz
>
> I'd be interested to know if any style guides (perhaps Economist?)
> endorse "alright." New York Times and AP style both adamantly shun it,
> favoring "all right."
>
I think when language usage authorities (dictionaries, usage guides) say
it's "seen," they mean that people who should know better do use it and have
not had good copyeditors (gdr>. So, it's "seen," all right, but it's like
"awhile," "anyways," and others that have historically in the US at least
been taught to be substandard, incorrect, or whatever name you want to use.
Those terms are all right if you are writing dialog and want to establish
that the speaker is uneducated.
Remember that there are prescriptivists and descriptivists among language
authorities. To say that a word is "seen" does not detract from the fact
that its usage is class-based or education-based.
It's no sin to use "anyways," or any of the other words that are not
considered "correct," but serious writers usually learn along the way that
certain forms need to be given up, even if they've been using those terms
all their lives.
No offense meant in any of the above to those who may still think those
terms are acceptable in formal writing.
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