Wednesday Word: All

all predet., det., & pronounused to refer to the whole quantity or extent of a particular group or thing: [ as predeterminer ] :  all the people I met | she left all her money to him| [ as determiner ] :  10% of all cars sold | he slept all day | [ as pronoun ] : four bedrooms, all with balconies | carry all ofthe blame | the men are all bearded.• [ determiner ] any whatever: assured beyond all doubt | he denied all knowledge.• [ determiner ] used to emphasize the greatest possible amount of a quality: they were in allprobability completely unaware | with alldue respect.• informal dominated by a particularfeature or characteristic: an eleven-year-old string bean, all elbows and knees.• [ pronoun with clause ] the only thing (used for emphasis): all I want is to be left alone.• [ pronoun ] (used to refer to surroundings or a situation in general) everything: all was well | it was all very strange.• informal used to indicate more than one person or thing: a team of specialists who all know the patient.• dialect consumed; finished; gone: the cake is all.

Half a life time ago I was a cash-strapped college student with a penchant for growing herbs in pots. So when the local gardening supply store ran an ad stating all planters were 50% off I couldn’t resist. After much deliberation I chose two of the fancy flowerpots instead of a dozen of the plain ones—being sensible was never my strong point.

The cashier rang up my pots at full price. I pointed out her mistake. She informed me these planters were not on sale. I drew here attention to the ad, stating all planters were half off. She gave me a professional smile and said, “Yes, but not these ones.” I pointed out to here that all meant all.

I became the dreaded customer who holds up the line. It wasn’t the planters—those I could’ve walked away from—but the principle of things.

The cashier summoned the manager, and I stated my case. He instructed the cashier to charge me half price for the planters. However, I strongly suspected—and still do—that he did it only to get rid of me, not because he saw my point.