a-tall't
Not at all — zero, none, not even a little.
Also called not at all, a-tall.
Updated September 21, 2026
a-tall't pronunciation
/uh-TAWLT/
Meaning
A hard no on amount or degree. Where plain a-tall means "at all" (usually inside a negative sentence), a-tall't packs the whole "not at all" idea into one clipped chunk. You hear it when somebody wants to shut the door on a question, or stress that something helped none.
How folks use it
- “You mad about it? A-tall't.”
- “That rain helped the garden a-tall't.”
Origin and etymology
Built on a-tall, the Southern and Appalachian way of saying "at all" (resyllabified so it sounds like "a tall"). The trailing 't is dialect spelling for the negative clipped onto the phrase, same family of marks you see in 'tain't. Word lists treat a-tall't as the ready-made "not at all" form. Closely related talk shows up in lines like "He ain't got no sense a-tall."
Frequently asked questions
How is a-tall't different from a-tall?
A-tall means "at all" and usually rides inside a negative sentence ("don't care a-tall"). A-tall't already carries the "not" — it means "not at all" on its own.