RE: In love with a word

["Kevin Amery" <kevin -dot- amery -at- sympatico -dot- ca>]

Wherefore art thou inscribing "till" upon thy software treatise? These are
but wild and whirling words.

:-)

Until next time....
 
Kevin Amery


-----Original Message-----
From: Dick Margulis [mailto:margulisd -at- comcast -dot- net] 
Sent: January 5, 2006 8:07 PM
To: Kevin Amery
Cc: techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
Subject: Re: In love with a word

Kevin Amery wrote:
> "To me, till is the incorrect form of until. I cannot come up with an 
> instance where I'd use till instead of until."
> 
> I would agree. I might use 'til in fiction as part of dialog or in 
> *very* informal communication (instant messenger or email between 
> friends for
> example) but I would never use it in technical writing or formal 
> communication.
> 
> Until next time....
>  
> Kevin Amery


And yet...and yet...let's see what AHD has to say on the matter:

till 2 Pronunciation (tl)
prep.
Until.
conj.
Until.
[Middle English, from Old English til, from Old Norse.] Usage Note: Till and
until are generally interchangeable in both writing and speech, though as
the first word in a sentence until is usually
preferred: Until you get that paper written, don't even think about going to
the movies..Till is actually the older word, with until having been formed
by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning "up to." In the 18th
century the spelling 'till became fashionable, as if till were a shortened
form of until. Although 'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in
this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically
incorrect.

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