Usage Wars: All Right or Alright?

[SepiaAndDust]

Is alright a word? If so, how does it differ from all right?

Consider the sentence The food was alright.

To me, alright is not only perfectly cromulent, it's the preferred form. I mean, who writes all ready or all though?

Of course, if we're discussing how many answers someone got correct on a test, we'd say The students got the answers all right, just as we'd say The students were all ready for the test if everyone was prepared.

My go-to defense of alright as separate from all right refers to a terminally ill little kid who is in no immediate danger. She may be alright at the moment, but she is most certainly not all right.