More on "Alright"

As I commented below this used to really bug me, but then I found myself using it in informal corresponce -- never in professional correspondence! -- quite often. This is a link to an interesting history of the words "all right" and "alright", and there is more out there. When I have time I'll consult my Fowler's and see what it says. Check out this site in the meantime: The Maven's Word of the Day. And in the meantime use the rule "If in doubt, don't", and don't use it if you think the person you're writing to or for is going to hate it! lol See the distinction below:
Quoted from the above site:

While in general, alright can be found in all the senses of all right, in
practice there can be a real semantic distinction between the two, because the
two word form all right can mean 'all correct' or something like that, while
alright can only mean 'good; safe; healthy', etc. when used as an adjective.
(Similar distinctions are found with already and all ready, though these forms
have diverged to the point where they are not interchangable at all.) Thus the
sentence "The Kids Aren't All Right" can mean 'not all the kids are right', or
'some of the kids are wrong', while "The Kids Aren't Alright" can only mean 'the
kids are not OK'. from http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19990604

Two words in one? No.

I often see "alot" and "alright" in print, but the correct usage is always in the form of two words: "a lot" and "all right."

Just remember, it takes two, baby!

A handy website

I haven't spent a lot of time on this one, but in browsing through it, it looks to be a fairly good reference for word usage, especially words that are frequently confused. In fact, the name of it is Confusing Words. Of course, you have to be aware that you are confused by a group of words (such as 'there,' 'their,' and 'they're') in order to look them up!

Addendum

It seems that this website isn't functioning at the moment. I was on it yesterday, so I don't know if it's a temporary problem or if the site is down. A shame, because it was a nice little reference!