To summarize something, we often use the phrase “all told.” But should it be “all tolled”? The correct phrase, “all told,” comes from an old use of the word tell meaning “to count,” as in a bank teller. All told is an example of an absolute construction — a phrase that, in other words, can’t be broken down and must be treated as a single entity. This is part of a complete episode.
Transcript of “All Told”
Hello, you have A Way with Words.
Hi, this is Sue calling from Indianapolis.
Hi, Sue. Welcome to the program.
Hi, Sue.
Thank you.
What’s happening there?
Well, I was looking at the newspaper a couple of weeks ago,
Reading an article about the amount of spices and seasonings
That Americans are going to use during the holiday season coming up.
And the beginning of the sentence said,
All told, Americans will purchase, and then went on to say how much.
And I got curious about the phrase all told and thought I would call you and ask about it.
Well, Sue, how did they spell it?
Well, A-L-L and T-O-L-D.
Okay.
So they didn’t spell it A-L-L-T-O-L-L-E-D.
No, I was curious about that as another way of possibly spelling it.
Yeah, yeah, that’s what I used to think.
I used to think it was like the bell tolling, you know, however many times.
Right, or going through a toll booth.
Yeah, yeah, exactly. Those tolls add up, right?
Yes, yes.
But they actually did it correctly.
Tolled, in that sense, comes from an old sense of the word tell, that means to count, like a bank teller.
Oh, okay.
Aha, I heard that light bulb.
Yes, well, I had also thought maybe the word had been totaled and over the years had been abbreviated and part of the word had just fallen out.
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah, that’s a good guess.
Yeah.
So told comes from an old meaning of to tell, meaning to count.
Yes.
Oh, that, all right.
Yeah, and so all told together is kind of this, what they call an absolute construction, which is it’s its own thing.
It’s not very dependent upon the sentence that it’s attached to.
It has its own subject, in this case, all.
And it’s got, it can’t even be broken down, really.
It’s got to be treated as a single entity.
Oh, I see.
To get nerdy about it.
Yeah.
Great, so.
Does that clear it up for you, Sue?
Yeah.
It does. It does. Thank you so much.
Thanks for calling. Bye-bye.
You’re welcome. Bye-bye.
Bye-bye.
English is just filled with all these little mysteries, isn’t it?
It is. Sometimes the smallest ones are the most fascinating.
