The Alot

About

The Alot is a fictional mammalian creature with brown fur invented by Allie Brosh, the creator of the webcomic Hyperbole and a Half. The creature was inspired by the common grammatical error writing the phrase "a lot" as "alot." The Alot is often referenced when someone has made the error in a discussion thread to point out the mistake in a lighthearted manner. (See also: X all the Y)

Origin

On April 13th, 2010, a post titled "The Alot is Better Than You at Everything"^[1] was published to Hyperbole and a Half, and described a coping mechanism for witnessing the grammatical error combining the phrase "a lot" into the word "alot."

The Alot is an imaginary creature that I made up to help me deal with my compulsive need to correct other people's grammar. It kind of looks like a cross between a bear, a yak and a pug, and it has provided hours of entertainment for me in a situation where I'd normally be left feeling angry and disillusioned with the world.

For example, when I read the sentence "I care about this alot," this is what I imagine

The post was accompanied by several illustrations of how she imagines the creature:

Spread

On the same day the comic was published, Redditor jack47 linked to the Hyperbole and a Half page in a post titled "Reddit will like this Alot," receiving at least 2,200 up votes. On April 14th, 2010, Neatorama^[3] posted an article about the Alot and by April 18th, the first definition entry had been submitted to Urban Dictionary.^[5] On April 19th, BoingBoing^[4] wrote about the newly coined slang term.

Fan Art Illustrations

Several pages worth of fan art can be found on deviantArt under the tag #alot.^[2]

Search Interest

Search queries for "the alot" picked up in April of 2010, the same month the comic was posted to Hyperbole and a Half.

External References