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Subject:RE: In love with a word From:"Nuckols, Kenneth M" <Kenneth -dot- Nuckols -at- mybrighthouse -dot- com> To:"Sankara R" <ss_rajanala -at- yahoo -dot- com>, "Bonnie Granat" <bgranat -at- granatedit -dot- com>, <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com> Date:Thu, 5 Jan 2006 10:53:24 -0500
Sankara R said...
>
> While it is true that no two words can mean
> exactly the same (perfect synonymy is ruled out
> by linguists of all hues), and 'use' and
> 'utilize' mean different things, I don't think
> 'whilst' differs from 'while' except in being
> archaic.
> [In that sense, that is connotationally
> different.]
>
> Be that as it may, I wonder what is the
> difference between till and until. I prefer to
> use 'until' but i can't put my finger on why. Is
> it like Am vs Brit E?
>
Earlier in the thread, someone pointed out a regional difference that in
an area of the UK (Cornwall, was it?) the word "while" was used to mean
"until" (ex. in the office nine while five daily).
In the question of "till" vs. "until" there may be another regional
difference. In American English I think of "till" as a noun (a box or
drawer where money is collected--in a store or at an event), or as a
verb (something a farmer does to the soil in preparation for planting).
I think of 'til (note the apostrophe) as a slang form of "until," and I
think of anyone using "till" to mean "'til" as being just plain wrong.
Of course this reflects personal prejudicial preference for "standard"
American English (if there is such a thing any more) over British,
Canadian, Indian, Australian, or any other regional dialects of the
tongue. It's sometimes interesting to see in a global community like
this how the same word can be used in so many different ways, and when
shades of meaning blur into completely different meanings altogether.
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