Thursday 25 October 2007
Open till midnight
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A TILL IS FOR KEEPING MONEY IN AND UNTIL IS SPELT WITH ONE 'L'.
(see update below)
So unless these banners are advertising the fact that a till will be open at midnight (Rob me! Rob me!), they should read, "open 'til 12 midnight".
Credit to Dave Winer for spotting this and twittering about it.
**UPDATE**
I'm wrong (again). Till, rather than being a misspelled abbreviation, actually pre-dates until. Please know that I am suitably embarrassed. I considered taking this post down but I think it should stand here as a warning to other rash, ignorant bloggers too lazy to research their posts.
This really bugs me. Can everyone please read this next sentence carefully.
(see update below)
So unless these banners are advertising the fact that a till will be open at midnight (Rob me! Rob me!), they should read, "open 'til 12 midnight".
Credit to Dave Winer for spotting this and twittering about it.
**UPDATE**
I'm wrong (again). Till, rather than being a misspelled abbreviation, actually pre-dates until. Please know that I am suitably embarrassed. I considered taking this post down but I think it should stand here as a warning to other rash, ignorant bloggers too lazy to research their posts.
Labels: grammar, pet peeves, photos, punctuation, signage, spelling, wrong word
posted by Gez at 6:38 pm
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3 Comments:
Webster's Collegiate says "till" means "until," and Chicago Manual of Style says, "This is a perfectly good preposition and conjunction...It is not a contraction of "until" and should not be written "'til."
I do think you should know that you're mistaken on this one. "Till" is a longstanding conjunction and preposition with a life of its own. It's also older than "until" and is not a misspelled abbreviation of "until." So, it's perfectly acceptable to use, although, because of mistaken ideas about its validity, it's probably best avoided where one has a point to make that might be lost in a usage kerfluffle.
You're both right, a bit of research on my part wouldn't go amiss in future. My (belated) investigation leads me to believe that till is old English and I can't help but think it would have gone the way of thou if not for its similarity to 'til. Know that I am suitably embarrassed. I considered taking the post down but think it should stand here as a warning to other rash, ignorant bloggers too lazy to research their posts.
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