What is the word for to know a little bit about a lot of things?

Answer 1

Maybe you are going for "Jack of all trades and master of none." "Jack of all trades" is often used by itself, usually meant in a mildly complimentary way, for people who seem to be able to jump into different situations and creatively solve problems. There is also the word "dilettante", which has a less complimentary connotation. It usually refers to someone who "dabbles" (dabbler) in a lot of different areas but attains nothing more than superficial competence in anything. Years ago a college professor shared this very funny distinction between academics and/or physicians who study a broad generalist area of interest, as compared to those who study a narrowly defined specialized sub-field: A Generalist is one who knows less and less about more and more until he knows nothing about everything. A Specialist is one who knows more and more about less and less until he knows everything about nothing.
No, alot isn't a word. If you are talking about a large amount of something, you want to say "a lot." There is also a similar word, allot, which is used when distributing things.

If the pirates capture a lot of treasure, the captain will allot one share to each of the crew.