I hadn't thought of that, but anecdotally, it may make sense. I am a Southerner of course. I didn't tell you, but I asked Mike, "'All right'... one word or two?" And he replied, "Both. 'All right' is 'everything is correct' and 'alright' is 'everything is okay.'" I poo-pooed that. *laughs* Told him that 'all right' was two words... and he is Northern.

All of which raises yet another linguistic point, darling. Can there even be Northern and Southern preferences for the English language in different countries? That is, can Northern Americans and Northern Brits agree that 'alright' is one word and Southern Americans and Southern Brits agree that it is always one word? Fascinating.