[split] The Nothing

[shemthepenman]

Oh, silly things are amusing, and long live the silly debate about 'til and till

You are right, of course, that just because a word was first chronologically, doesn't make it any better than its usurper. I mean, if that were the case I would be suggesting 'until' is a poor choice of words, too. the whole 'predates' thing can be scratched from my argument (to a certain degree, only because I really struggle writing and to go into it would be painful and boring and fruitless). But the rest stands, i.e. there is a perfectly good word with a capital W that is in a general linguistic sense pronounced exactly the same way as the word 'til which is a contraction (and an unnecessary contraction, given there is a WORD that is in a general linguistic sense pronounced exactly the same way as the contraction). I suppose my argument is if you know better, then why use 'til? I can understand why someone who didn't know would use 'til. But I do not understand this 'personal preference' thing based on a subjective pronunciation. And the argument 'who knows how people pronounce things' or whatnot, is the language equivalent to the pub-philosophy question 'yeah, but how do you know you're not dreaming?'

The fact is, I am sure that few, if anyone, reads 'til any differently than till, and the only effective difference I can see in using it is that those who do know better will think it is an error in education. It could be a rebellion, I like that.

Oh, and the 'confusion' argument about till is ridiculous

and in the words of the great Bertrand Russell "stop arguing with me, I am write."

well - leave no word untilled.  It is good to see someone with a passion for the details - even when they're wrong.

(BTW - til predates all 3)

yep til predates all the rest. And I am entirely right, or write, it doesn't matter, apparently; because that is my personal preference