AIDS IS A NON WHITE DISEASE

[Pharaoh]

Originally Posted by Chojin

Actually, 'already' was a slang term only recently brought into dictionaries. 'All ready' is a correct term and has been used for longer.

But don't let me rain on your english superiority diversion.

I don't see any rain, Chojin, because that is a load of absolute rubbish.

The word 'already' has been in use for at least 700 years, that's 300 years before the first English dictionary even came out.

Already is a compound word of all + ready. There are thousands of English compound words, and they're nothing to do with slang. Other examples are: another, anybody, anyhow, anyone, anything, anywhere.

Many compound words such as already have a different meaning than the two words used separately, so you can't just use one or the other.

All ready is an adjective phrase meaning all prepared, whereas already is an adverb meaning previously.

So, 'We're all ready full up on idiots' doesn't make any sense, whereas 'We're already full up on idiots' clearly does.


I think possibly you're getting confused because of the comparatively recent colloquial American use of 'already' as an intensive word to express impatience, as in 'enough already!'.