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Till or 'til?
Posted: May 12th, 2010, 9:43 pm
by Robin
I've seen this a few times reading and critiquing. Which one is supposed to be used when saying, "The game isn't 'til four" ??? Till or 'til? I'm leaning on 'til.
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 12th, 2010, 9:56 pm
by Em!
Two usage notes from
Dictionary.com:
Usage note
Till and until are both old in the language and are interchangeable as both prepositions and conjunctions: It rained till (or until) nearly midnight. The savannah remained brown and lifeless until (or till) the rains began. Till is not a shortened form of until and is not spelled 'till. 'Til is usually considered a spelling error, though widely used in advertising: Open 'til ten.
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.
Sounds like if it comes down to it, "till" wins.
I still like "'til" better.
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 12th, 2010, 10:08 pm
by Robin
Em! wrote:Two usage notes from
Dictionary.com:
Usage note
Till and until are both old in the language and are interchangeable as both prepositions and conjunctions: It rained till (or until) nearly midnight. The savannah remained brown and lifeless until (or till) the rains began. Till is not a shortened form of until and is not spelled 'till. 'Til is usually considered a spelling error, though widely used in advertising: Open 'til ten.
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.
Sounds like if it comes down to it, "till" wins.
I still like "'til" better.
Thanks a bunch! I like (or I guess I'm used to) 'til instead of till. Its probably due to my marketing/ pr background- makes sense ;)
Thanks again!!
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 13th, 2010, 12:03 am
by polymath
Until, till, til, 'til represents a register spectrum of formal to informal to dialect. Any one will do if consistently used, meaning a formal narrator might solely use until. A less formal narrator might use until, till, til, or 'til, depending on context. A casual narrator or viewpoint character in thought or dialogue might use until, till, til, or 'til, again, depending on context. The apostrophe could imply a dialect contraction of until.
Until Mabel milked the cows, the workday wasn't done.
Not till the day was done would she let her hair down.
With chores done and her hair down, she turned on the TV awhile, til it was time for bed.
"Din't knowed it for certain 'til now," she said to her old man, "farmer wife works as harder 'an a fishwife."
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 13th, 2010, 11:17 am
by Pete
"Till" is something you do to your garden or somewhere you put your petty cash.
" 'Til " is the contraction for "until".
I don't care what the dictionaries say. It makes me want to scream every time I see till used for until. Even the masters do it, though. C.S. Lewis's Till We Have Faces, for example.
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 13th, 2010, 12:30 pm
by bcomet
Well this one caught me using til.
I was much relieved by Polymath's reply.
I used it in dialogue.
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 13th, 2010, 11:43 pm
by sooper
Gotta agree with Pete.
Re: Till or 'til?
Posted: May 15th, 2010, 3:08 pm
by Aimée
I always use "until." I'm sure the others are correct as well, but sometimes it just sounds lazy to me. I don't know. It's just preference.