All my life, I've tried to use a certain word that does not exist. I've repeatedly used it in school assignments, business letters, personal emails... and I wouldn't be surprised if you even found it somewhere on this blog. What word is that, you ask? I will tell you after I wander off on a brief tangent...
When I was in sixth grade, I walked up to Miss Wills to ask her how to spell a word. The word in question was alot. It just wasn't looking quite right on my paper. She informed me that there was no such word. In order to placate my outrage, she continued that the word I was trying to spell was in fact two words. Ever since that day, I have remembered to use the two-word term a lot when trying to say several, many, assorted, myriad, etc.
As I was saying, there is a word the true spelling of which I have refused to accept these 27 years. I have spurned to bend to the will of spell check, despite its repeated insistence of my inaccuracy. I've scoffed in the face of even my beloved companion, dictionary.com.
No more! From henceforth and forever, I vow to discontinue use of the nonexistent word eachother. Even now, spell check has harshly underlined the one-word term in bright red dashes seen only by me, the author. Curse you, spell check (shaking my fist)! You've finally worn me down. Like my friend a lot, which I learned how to spell correctly 16 years ago, I hereby vow to use two words when I mean to indicate that a relationship or an action is reciprocal among the members of the set referred to by the antecedent. (Thank you dictionary.com.)
Enter a new era into my life during which I will use all words correctly to the best of my knowledge. Enter each other.
4 comments:
I am so proud! Our little girl is growing up. I hate the alot word. I sometimes leave it just to prove how stupid it is that it is two words.
I think I still put eachother together, but always give into the spell checker underline and change it. Except right now of course. I'd be lost without spell checker. The word that I always swear goes together is atleast. I always type it thinking that I'm spelling it correctly and that little red line shows up every time!
Meili, I like you alot!
I have changed all spell checkers and predictive texts to believe there is a word alot. Clearly you live far more in reality than I do.
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