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 included several examples of how she imagines the creature:

Spread

The same day the comic was published, Redditor jack47 posted a link to the Hyperbole and a Half page titled “Reddit will like this Alot” and received a total of 2,199 up votes. The blog Neatorama^[3] posted an article about the Alot on April 14th, 2010. The first definition was submitted to Urban Dictionary^[5] on April 18th. The following day, a link to the original Hyperbole and a Half page was posted on BoingBoing.^[4] A Facebook^[6] fan page has 235 likes, and a Twitter^[7] account has 1,097 followers as of September 22nd, 2011.

Fan Art

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

Search

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

External Links