Now, when you see the word “Alot”, you should be very confused. If you aren't, then you should be paying EXTRA-CLOSE attention to this article.

The Alot is an internet meme (a meme is used to describe a concept that spreads via the Internet) that got started back in 2010.

It first appeared on the blog page of Hyperbole and a Half, in a post labeled “The Alot is Better Than You At Everything”. In the post, the blogger described how he dealt with how people combine “a lot” into one word and just write “alot”. Note that it’s grammatically incorrect to say “alot” and the correct term is “a lot”.

He decided that whenever he would see someone write “alot”, he’d imagine an imaginary creature in place of the word “alot”. This would make sense considering the word “alot” is imaginary as well.

“The Alot is an imaginary creature that I made up to help me deal with my compulsive need to correct other people's grammar,” the blogger said. “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.”

Now, what he means by imagining an Alot is that he’d take the sentence that is using “a lot” incorrectly, and replace it with an Alot creature.

Here are some examples:

The Alot spread rapidly after Hyperbole and a Half first posted it on their blog. Within a week, an article about the Alot had already reached over 2,000 up votes on Reddit, a social news website and a definition for it had been submitted to Urban Dictionary.

As of today, its Facebook page has 360 likes, and the Twitter account has 1,110 followers. For an imaginary creature, whose sole reason for existence is to mock those who use poor grammar, that is quite a successful life.

Now, the frenzy of Alot-related posts has died down over the months. Not many people remember the Alot, or are even aware of the Alot's existence. However, people still use “alot” in their internet comments. Do your part to help stop bad grammar. Spread the word about the Alot.