"a real lot"

[Arnold M. Zwicky]

On Oct 11, 2006, at 5:20 AM, Charles Doyle wrote:

> The popular mystery writer Robert B. Parker, near the end of his
> new novel _Sea Change_, has this exchange:  "They're with their
> mother" / "Who is not a real lot better than their father" (p. 290).
>
> "Not a real lot better" sounds terribly unidiomatic to me!  I would
> say "not a whole lot better."  Parker, a deft stylist, lives in
> Boston; he is (or has been) on the faculty of Boston University.
> His books are set (mostly) in New England.  Is "a real lot better"
> a New Englandism?

hard to tell from the ca. 46,500 raw webhits (a great many of them
relevant) for "a real lot", though they seem to come from all over
the place.  they seem mostly to be determiner uses ("a real lot of
N") plus some VP adverbials (as in "I like it a real lot").  only 4
hits for "a real lot better".

at least some relevant examples of "real lots", but nothing like the
numbers for "a real lot".  but then "whole lots" (though surprisingly
-- to me -- frequent) is way less frequent than "a whole lot".

like jon lighter, i don't recall having heard/seen this before (but
maybe i just didn't notice), and i too find it unidiomatic.

arnold (zwicky at csli.stanford.edu)

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