Till versus Until

A reader asks,

Isn’t the shortened version of until spelled ’til, not til or till?

I know that till is a word (I worked as a grocery store cashier as a teenager), so I understand why it doesn’t get flagged by spellcheck when some writers incorrectly shorten the word until as till.

Many speakers believe that the till in such expressions as “Till death do us part” and “Till the end of Time” should be written ’til, as if it were a shortened version of until.

In fact, till is not a shortening of until. It is a freestanding word that can be used as a preposition and as a conjunction in the same ways as until. Both words are documented with the sense of “up to the time of” as early as the 1300s.

Till is more common in speech and until in writing, but both have been used interchangeably by generations of writers.

Shakespeare uses both in All’s Well That Ends Well (c.1604):

Go, tell the Count Rousillon, and my brother,
We have caught the woodcock, and will keep him muffled
Till we do hear from them.

Our rash faults

Make trivial price of serious things we have,
Not knowing them until we know their grave.

Dickens uses both till and until in Great Expectations (1861):

I was not expected till to-morrow; but I had my keys, and, if Herbert were gone to bed, could get to bed myself without disturbing him.

Until she opened the side entrance, I had fancied, without thinking about it, that it must necessarily be night-time.

George Orwell does it in Nineteen Eighty-Four (1949):

The new ration did not start till tomorrow and he had only four cigarettes left.

Very likely the confessions had been rewritten and rewritten until the original facts and dates no longer had the smallest significance.

The form ’til is a fairly recent invention, created by writers in the mistaken belief that spoken till is a shortening of until and should therefore be written with an apostrophe for the missing syllable un-.

Bottom line: Till is a perfectly good English word. ’Til is nonstandard.

Source: http://www.dailywritingtips.com

FYI: To add to the confusion, 'till' is also a verb as in ‘till the soil’ and this could be used in a sentence with ‘until’ as in “Farmers often till the soil until sunset.”

This Week's Worldwide Teaching Jobs – May 18, 2015

This Week's Worldwide Teaching Jobs – May 18, 2015:

Austria 1, Azerbaijan 1, Bangladesh 1, Brazil 1, Cambodia 3, China 100+,  Czech Republic 10, Dominican Republic 3, Ecuador 4, France 37, Germany 7, Greece 5, Honduras 3, Hong Kong 15, Indonesia 11, Iraq 2, Ireland 4, Italy 30, Japan 7, Kazakhstan 22, Kuwait 3, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 3, Malaysia 6, Malta 1, Mexico 2, Mongolia 1, Myanmar 1, New Zealand 2, North Korea 1, Oman 5, Poland 6, Portugal 4, Romania 3, Russian Federation 20, Saudi Arabia 30, Serbia 1, Singapore 5, Slovakia 8, South Korea 5, Spain 80+, Sudan 1, Taiwan 12, Tanzania 1, Thailand 10, Turkey 10, Ukraine 1, United Arab Emirates 1, Uzbekistan 1, Vietnam 20.

The need for ESL teachers is HUGE! 511 NEW teaching positions have opened up around the world this week. Have YOU ever thought about teaching English overseas? Traveling? Seeing new countries? Why not get paid as well? The time could not be better.

Take our TESOL Certificate course and, with your degree in any discipline, you will be ready to go in 4-6 weeks!

Dr Robert W. Taylor

Dean of Studies

Sunbridge Institute of English

http://www.teachesl.org/tesol.html

'Belt' Idioms

A striking headline from The Daily Beast got me thinking about all the expressions that make use of the noun belt: 

The Rustbelt Roars Back From the Dead

I thought a post about belt idioms might be especially useful to ESL speakers.

A belt is a strip of flexible material, such as leather, plastic, cloth, used with or without a buckle for wear (usually) around the waist. Some idioms are based on a belt’s narrow shape, like the following epithets for different sections of the United States. 

Corn Belt
This term refers to the region in the north-central Midwest of the United States where corn (maize) and corn-fed livestock are raised. The Corn Belt extends from western Ohio to eastern Nebraska and northeastern Kansas.

Cotton Belt
This is the region of the South and Southwestern sections of the United States where much cotton is grown.

Rust Belt
Regions in the Midwest and Northeast that were once centers of manufacturing but which have become the sites of obsolete, abandoned factories are collectively known as the Rust Belt.

Bible Belt
Sections of the United States, especially in the South and in Middle West, where many residents hold fundamentalist religious beliefs, has long been referred to as the Bible Belt. The AP Stylebook warns journalists to use the term with care “because in certain contexts it can give offense.”

Sun Belt
Those states in the South and West, ranging from Florida and Georgia through the Gulf states into California are often referred to as the Sun Belt.

Other belt idioms are based on the use of the belt as an article of clothing.

to tighten one’s belt
The meaning is “to spend less money.” A person who must spend less money on groceries may be forced to eat less and lose weight as a result. Losing weight makes it possible to fasten a belt more tightly.

Example: Just as families and businesses across the nation have tightened their belts, so must the federal government.

to get something under your belt
This means “to complete some endeavor seen as necessary.”

Example: Aled Davies has his first Grand Prix under his belt.

to hit below the belt
The meaning is “to take unfair advantage of someone.” In boxing, striking an opponent below the belt is against the rules.
Example: Sarkozy hits below the belt as race for Elysée hots up

a belt and braces approach (British)
a belt and suspenders approach (American)
This refers to a way of doing things that involves more than the usual amount of caution. Either a belt or a pair of braces or suspenders is sufficient to hold up one’s trousers. Using both is excessive.

Example: The combination of these factors—change in key staff and rapid growth—meant that there needed to be a “belt and braces” approach to quality management and staffing. 

Constitutional protections seem to represent a belt and suspenders approach.

put a notch on one’s belt
This idiom can mean “to defeat an opponent” or ”to add something to a collection.” According to the lore of the Old West, every time a gunfighter killed a man, he cut a notch on his gun handle or along the edge of his gun belt.

Example: For DeMint, the Moran victory is another notch on the belt.

Source: www.dailywritingtips.com

 

This Week's Worldwide ESL Teaching Jobs – May 11, 2015

Austria 1, Azerbaijan 3, Bangladesh 1, Brazil 1, Cambodia 3, China 100+, Colombia 4, Czech Republic 11, Dominican Republic 3, Ecuador 2, France 37, Germany 13, Greece 3, Honduras 3, Hong Kong 10, Indonesia 14, Iraq 2, Ireland 1, Italy 23, Japan 9, Kazakhstan 4, Kuwait 3, Laos 4, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya 2, Malaysia 2, Malta 2, Mexico 1, Mongolia 1, North Korea 1, Oman 3, Poland 5, Portugal 3, Romania 3, Russian Federation 22, Saudi Arabia 29, Serbia 1, Singapore 4, Slovakia 8, South Korea 7, Spain 3.

That is 298 new open teaching positions around the world! 

Now is the time to earn a TESOL Certificate and get ready to take on the world! 

Click our link to get your TESOL qualification in 4-6 weeks!

http://www.teachesl.org/tesol.html

A little levity...Why Teachers Drink!

This is today’s post from my daily coffeewithbob.blogspot.ca blog. I hope you enjoy it!

G'day to you. How are you faring? I trust you are fit as a fiddle. Pour yourself an icepresso and snag a virtual doughnut or muffin while you're over there by the coffeepot. Okay, granted that I occasionally take liberties with the language, inventing words such as 'icepresso' and 'caffo' on the fly (so to speak) but, as an English teacher, I am constantly bemused though more often than not disappointed in the state of the language as it is spoken on TV by supposedly educated reporters, newscasters and guests on various shows. Well if the following is how kids are being taught English, I would have to blame the teachers. 

The following questions were set in a GED examination . These are (supposedly) genuine answers (from 16 year olds – ‘selected’)

Q. Name the four seasons
A.. Salt, pepper, mustard and vinegar.

Q. How is dew formed.
A. The sun shines down on the leaves and makes them perspire.

Q. What guarantees may a mortgage company insist on
A.. If you are buying a house they will insist that you are well endowed.

Q. In a democratic society, how important are elections
A.. Very important. Sex can only happen when a male gets an election.

Q. What are steroids
A. Things for keeping carpets still on the stairs ..
(Shoot yourself now , there is little hope)

Q... What happens to your body as you age
A.. When you get old, so do your bowels and you get intercontinental.

Q. What happens to a boy when he reaches puberty
A.. He says goodbye to his boyhood and looks forward to his adultery.
(So true)

Q. Name a major disease associated with cigarettes.
A.. Premature death.

Q. What is artificial insemination
A... When the farmer does it to the bull instead of the cow.

Q. How can you delay milk turning sour
A.. Keep it in the cow.
(Simple, but brilliant)

Q. How are the main 20 parts of the body categorised (e.g. The abdomen)
A.. The body is consisted into 3 parts - the brainium, the borax and the abdominal cavity.  The brainium contains the brain, the borax contains the heart and lungs and the abdominal cavity contains the five bowels: A,E,I,O,U(wtf!)                                               

Q. What is the fibula?
A.. A small lie.

Q. What does 'varicose' mean?
A.. Nearby.

Q. What is the most common form of birth control 
A.. Most people prevent contraception by wearing a condominium.
(That would work)

Q. Give the meaning of the term 'Caesarean section'
A.. The caesarean section is a district in Rome.

Q. What is a seizure?
A.. A Roman Emperor.
(Julius Seizure, I came, I saw, I had a fit)

Q. What is a terminal illness
A. When you are sick at the airport.
(Irrefutable)

Q. What does the word 'benign' mean?
A.. Benign is what you will be after you be eight
(brilliant) .

Q. What is a turbine?
A.. Something an Arab or Shreik wears on his head. Once an Arab boy reaches puberty, he removes his diaper and wraps it around his head.

Okay...well, I have seen the last one as a joke on a couple of occasions, but what can I say?

Anyone care to comment? Did you notice the lack of question marks following many of the above questions?

See ya, eh!

Bob 

PS: English is not the only subject to suffer. Consider these responses to questions in physics, history, geography, religious studies and math. 

Is there hope for the human race? One has to wonder, eh! Teachers...we need your help in the worst way!