Crystal Clear Proofing: Aloud

Wednesday, September 8, 2010

Aloud vs. Out Loud

The American Heritage Dictionary of Idioms states that "out loud" started as a colloquialism for "aloud" in 1821. At first "out loud" was frowned on, but it has worked its way into standard English, so "out loud" and "aloud" are synonyms.

If you're being especially careful, you may want to stick with "aloud" in formal writing; but "out loud" is standard and even preferred in some sayings such as "laugh out loud."

If "out loud" hadn't become a rival of "aloud," the text messaging abbreviation could have been one character shorter: "LA" instead of "LOL" but I imagine "LA" wouldn't have caught on. Los Angeles and Louisiana would not have been amused.

Source: Grammar Girl

Reader Comments

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