Barb's 'til and the rest of the story

[David Oberstadt <daveo -at- VNET -dot- IBM -dot- COM>]

I know some people do not realize this.
(That's "realise" for you .uk and .au domain folks.)
Please don't take offense, Barb.

There is a word *till* that usually is spelled *til*, sometimes
preceded by an apostrophe. According to my M-W Dictionary of
English Usage,"*Till* and *until* are both venerable words, and are
both highly respectable. The notion that *till* is a short form of
*until* is erroneous: *till* is actually the older word, dating back
to at least the 9th century. *Until* was first recorded around 1200."

After some examples of these words in context, *'til* is discussed:
"What *'til* is, unargubly, is a variant spelling of *till* used by
writers who do not know that *till* is a complete, unabbreviated
word in its own right. Use of *'til* is undoubtedly common in casual
writing....

But if you are writing for publication, you will do well to spell
it *till*."

Hoe now, till later!

David Oberstadt               Anyone should be very suspicious
daveo -at- vnet -dot- ibm -dot- com            of a sentence he's written that
                              can't be read aloud easily.
Santa Teresa Lab                                          --Andy Rooney
San Jose, California


------------------------------- Referenced Note ---------------------------
From:         Barb Philbrick <barb -dot- philbrick -at- PCOHIO -dot- COM>

I'm with Karen. My dictionary still says it is informal, so I use
"through." "Til" bothers me, too; it's either "'til" or "until."

'Til later, <g>

Barb