Comments on: It’s till, not ’til http://www.girldetective.net/?p=30 Reading, Writing, Movies and Mothering in Minneapolis, Mostly Wed, 13 May 2026 18:33:00 +0000 http://wordpress.org/?v=2.7 hourly 1 By: Girl Detective http://www.girldetective.net/?p=30&cpage=1#comment-51 Girl Detective Wed, 15 Dec 2004 22:42:21 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=30#comment-51 I must admit, I prefer "till", if only because apostrophes are so ill used that I appreciate any chance to avoid them. I'm right with you on the serial comma, though. At my former place of employ, our copy standard was not to use the final comma in a series. That practice, while more concise, annoyed many a conscientious writer there, including myself. I must admit, I prefer “till”, if only because apostrophes are so ill used that I appreciate any chance to avoid them.

I’m right with you on the serial comma, though. At my former place of employ, our copy standard was not to use the final comma in a series. That practice, while more concise, annoyed many a conscientious writer there, including myself.

]]> By: Erik http://www.girldetective.net/?p=30&cpage=1#comment-50 Erik Wed, 15 Dec 2004 16:01:30 +0000 http://www.girldetective.net/?p=30#comment-50 My only issue with use of the word "till" is that it still has two other meanings in modern parlance. As a verb, it's what farmers do to the soil in their fields; as a noun, it's where the bartender goes with your twenty bucks. So there's not so much a lack of familiarity with the word, rather an awkwardness to using it correctly. I'm not wild about using a construction like "we talked till the lights came up full and the other patrons rose to don their coats," because to me that "till" has a slight tinge of anachronism. "'Til" not only looks but feels like a contraction of "until," and thus it gives the impression of serving both of language's two masters, concision and ease. In most other things, the AHD and I are of a mind, though. I predict that given a little time, there will be a note about how "'til" may be etymologically incorrect, but it has become the standard. Clearly, they are wise as well as smart, because they nicely deflated the idea of "he" as a neutral pronoun. I should check to see how they feel about my other bugaboo, the treatment of the final comma in a list (the one before "and," for example) as optional. That's a whole other argument, however. My only issue with use of the word “till” is that it still has two other meanings in modern parlance. As a verb, it’s what farmers do to the soil in their fields; as a noun, it’s where the bartender goes with your twenty bucks. So there’s not so much a lack of familiarity with the word, rather an awkwardness to using it correctly. I’m not wild about using a construction like “we talked till the lights came up full and the other patrons rose to don their coats,” because to me that “till” has a slight tinge of anachronism. “‘Til” not only looks but feels like a contraction of “until,” and thus it gives the impression of serving both of language’s two masters, concision and ease.

In most other things, the AHD and I are of a mind, though. I predict that given a little time, there will be a note about how “’til” may be etymologically incorrect, but it has become the standard. Clearly, they are wise as well as smart, because they nicely deflated the idea of “he” as a neutral pronoun. I should check to see how they feel about my other bugaboo, the treatment of the final comma in a list (the one before “and,” for example) as optional. That’s a whole other argument, however.

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