Comments on: Open till midnight

By: Gez

Gez — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 21:59:00 +0000

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.

By: Grant Barrett

Grant Barrett — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:26:00 +0000

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.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Thu, 25 Oct 2007 20:25:00 +0000

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.”