Rise in Use of Word "Whilst": Why?

[loseyourname]

Use of the Word "Whilst"

I've noticed that people are using this word more and more frequently. I've especially noticed it on these forums. Is there any particular reason for this? It has exactly the same meaning as 'while' and no additional connotations. Furthermore, it is a much uglier sounding word and comes across as rather pretentious. For those of you using it all the time, why? Where is this coming from? I can't think of anything in recent pop culture that could have caused this.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

It's hardly a new word. Middle English I think. I can't give you any authoratitive advise on when to use 'whilst' as opposed to 'while' but I'd say I'd use 'whilst' to mean 'although' or 'meanwhile', which 'while' can also be used for, but not 'at the same time as' which 'while' is used for.

e.g. "I am tall whilst my girlfriend is short."
"I did the vacuuming whilst my girlfriend cleaned the bathroom."
"I smoked a cigarette while vacuuming."

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

I think, in short, 'whilst' is only used as a connecting conjunction, whilst 'while' can also be used as a preposition.

 

[Danger]

I can't think of anything in recent pop culture that could have caused this.

In my case it's because the environment that I live in and the people that I've been involved with have been heavily influenced by so many different cultures that we blend them all. A lot of old English, erse, gaelic, etc. get mixed into our everyday speech, along with the more official French and Brit slang. Although I try to keep my grammar more or less correct in PF, it's informal enough that I don't take time to filter the actual words.

 

[loseyourname]

Oh, it is correct to use 'whilst' in any situation that you would use 'while' in. As I said, they have exactly the same meaning and exactly the same usages. If it's just commonly used in whatever part of Canada you're in (I can't remember it), that explains it. It just seemed to be getting more common to me. It seems like I've been seeing it everywhere recently and I never used to.

To the Hombre, 'whilst' has no additional connotation that implies the consequent clause is in opposition to the antecedent clause in your sentences. In those situations, 'although' or 'whereas' would be the best word to use. 'Yet' would suffice, but 'although' and 'whereas' are better.

All this said, the use of the word 'whilst' is not inaccurate, although it is archaic. It does originate from medieval English. Adding an "s" to the end of words in medieval English indicated an adverbial usage, and was added to the verb form of 'while' (meaning to spend time idly). The "t" is just epenthetic. Hard consonants were added to a lot of early English words in medieval times simply to better differentiate words from one another (early English kind of just flows into itself and can be very difficult to understand when spoken). So etymologically speaking, using 'whilst' to replace 'while' is technically incorrect, but it did become accepted long ago, kind of how 'normalcy' eventually became a real word thanks to Harding being an idiot and 'conversate' probably will now that so many public figures are (mis)using it.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

To the Hombre, 'whilst' has no additional connotation that implies the consequent clause is in opposition to the antecedent clause in your sentences. In those situations, 'although' or 'whereas' would be the best word to use. 'Yet' would suffice, but 'although' and 'whereas' are better.

I couldn't agree less. 'While' also has these connotations, at least in England. Whether another word may 'suffice' or be 'better' is entirely irrelevant.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

Another difference between 'whilst' and 'while': no-one ever says "worthwhilst" or "worth your whilst". I think 'while' in this case just means 'time' in general, which 'whilst' seemingly does not.

 

[fuzzyfelt]

I think 'whilst' is really pretty common here, but so is ironic affectation.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

In fact: <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=while>
Definitions of 'while' include: although, whereas.

Example: "My twin brother eats donuts for breakfast while I, on the other hand, eat them for lunch." Or whilst.

 

[El Hombre Invisible]

If Cambridge don't know, who does? <http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=whilst&image.x=47&image.y=8>

 

[pattylou]

More generally here in the States, "Britspeak" is up --- I believe by an order of magnitude in newspapers and so on - over the last decade.

An informal study looked at the the frequency of words and phrases such as "queue," "whilst," "at the end of the day," "on holiday," and others - in newspaper reports. The rise in usage of such words and phrases was striking. i was unable to find a website for actual figures.

(But this is kind of fun: http://englishclub.8m.com/ukus1.htm)

 

[Moonbear]

I think it's just a matter of personal taste. One person may find "whilst" to be ugly while another may find it more quaint, or fun to use. Since there's nothing wrong with either word choice, it could just be that as more people hear a different word used, they adopt it themselves just because it's different.

 

[arildno]

Not having English as my native language, but having read quite a bit, I've always found the use "whilst" rather artificial and perplexing.
That is, I haven't really managed to find out where the proper usages of "whilst" should be; frankly, "whilst" to me sounds like unnecessary frillery or silly snobbishness.

Perhaps someone could enlighten me on when "whilst" is properly used, in particular when it is the ONLY correct word to use?

 

[neurocomp2003]

I think i use it sometimes to make a major point while I using "while" the majority fo the time...i think its just a slur of the tongue/emotion

 

[arildno]

So, you use it as an "emphasizing technique", then?
It would be interesting to see if native speakers are in agreement on these issues..

 

[selfAdjoint]

So, you use it as an "emphasizing technique", then?
It would be interesting to see if native speakers are in agreement on these issues..

To me, an American speaker using whilst would sound pompously pseudo British, like spelling center "centre" in mall names. What is OK in the UK is not in the USA.

 

[arildno]

To me, an American speaker using whilst would sound pompously pseudo British, like spelling center "centre" in mall names. What is OK in the UK is not in the USA.

Ok, that's important, thanks.

BTW, I think "centre" is a pompous and silly way of writing the word in the first place.
But, whenever were Brits anything else, really?

 

[Anttech]

whilst is from the middle english period... The fancinating thing about English is that, unlike most other languages English does not have a body that governs what is an English word and what isnt... Unlike French or Italian, therefore English picks up lots of different localised words, that are absorbed into the "Cloud" of words that is English.

In the UK we have many many more dialects/lanaguages than in the USA so it is normal for Brits to have many different words that you would see in USA..

For Example, Scots, which is derived from old North English (and is a direct relation to fresian in The Netherlands) is now considered a separate language to English (regonised by the EU)..

ayll be Pittin ma mither tung on the wab, you ken?

 

[arildno]

ayll be Pittin ma mither tung on the wab, you ken?

I like Scots. You have very practical clothes, for example.

 

[zoobyshoe]

To me, an American speaker using whilst would sound pompously pseudo British, like spelling center "centre" in mall names. What is OK in the UK is not in the USA.

Friends don't let friends say whilst.

The people who bother me are the ones who never use it in everyday speech, but suddenly pull it out when they try their hand at verse.

 

[arildno]

Friends don't let friends say whilst.

The people who bother me are the ones who never use it in everyday speech, but suddenly pull it out when they try their hand at verse.

Okay, so it DOES have this sort of snobbish, "literati" feel to it?

 

[Anttech]

Friends don't let friends say whilst.

The people who bother me are the ones who never use it in everyday speech, but suddenly pull it out when they try their hand at verse.

Well here whilst is fine to use

 

[zoobyshoe]

Okay, so it DOES have this sort of snobbish, "literati" feel to it?

It isn't possible for an American to say it without sounding affected.

 

[Smasherman]

Using whilst is just another way of peppering speech. I use whilst occasionally, but usually only at a Renaissance Faire. I hope I've been using the right form...

Also, is queue British? I've been using it for years because it appeared in a few of my games (though I'm sure I've got pronunciation wrong).

Also, I prefer Old English spellings, probably because I grew up in the Renaissance Faire and my mom prefers Old English (so I adopted a like of it).

 

[Chi Meson]

Anttech brought up the Scots dialect; I learned to say "whilst" while growing up because of my Scottish mother. I was chided out of that as soon as I got to first grade. On a visit to Glasgow in the early eighties I saw a sign on a big truck (a "lorry," actually) "STAND CLEAR OF GATE WHILST TRUCK IN MOTION."

I agree with SelfAdjoint in that it is pompous when used by Americans. I just checked the OED, and each use of "whilst" is followed by the notation "=while", so there does not seem to be a condidtion where it is the only correct word to use.

 

[honestrosewater]

Since there's nothing wrong with either word choice, it could just be that as more people hear a different word used, they adopt it themselves just because it's different.

Yeah, I was going to suggest this as a possible reason loseyourname was seeing it suddenly being used more often on PF. Someone used it, other people saw it and started using it, others saw them use it and started using it...

What about amidst and amongst? I don't think those are pretentious.

 

[Danger]

Another difference between 'whilst' and 'while': no-one ever says "worthwhilst" or "worth your whilst". I think 'while' in this case just means 'time' in general, which 'whilst' seemingly does not.

In this case 'while' is a noun. 'Whilst' never is.
And to Arildno, 'centre' is the proper spelling of the word. 'Center' is a Yank variation. When it comes to randomly moving r's around, consider the difference in meaning between 'metre' and 'meter'.

 

[Kerrie]

Not having English as my native language, but having read quite a bit, I've always found the use "whilst" rather artificial and perplexing.
That is, I haven't really managed to find out where the proper usages of "whilst" should be; frankly, "whilst" to me sounds like unnecessary frillery or silly snobbishness.

Perhaps someone could enlighten me on when "whilst" is properly used, in particular when it is the ONLY correct word to use?

my thoughts exactly, i find the word atrocious to say...

 

[brewnog]

Thinking about it, I use 'whilst' a lot. I don't think it's pompous; at least in the UK, it's not a word which only posh people use.

When writing, I find myself using 'therefore', 'whence', 'henceforth' and 'thence' quite a lot too.

Smasherman, I had to explain to a USian what a queue was a while back. Often, it doesn't even cross my mind that another English speaker doesn't share the same dialect as myself, even within the UK. I quite like the way there are so many different dialects over here. Just having a conversation about the different regional names for bread cakes (bread rolls, cobs, buns, barms, fadges) can be rather enlightening.

 

[pattylou]

I like to hear the English use such terminology.

I like different cultural quirks. "Arse" and "That's a bit dear" and "further maths" are ... I don't know ... sweet, to my way of thinking, and I'd hate to see this sort of linguistic diversity homogenized.

It sounds a bit different when an American says something like this - bnut I think that would change with usage.

 

[brewnog]

I like to hear the English use such terminology.

I like different cultural quirks. "Arse" and "That's a bit dear" and "further maths" are ... I don't know ... sweet, to my way of thinking, and I'd hate to see this sort of linguistic diversity homogenized.

The funny thing is that words like that don't even cross my mind as being particularly UKish (perhaps with the exception of arse). I just like it when American tourists say things like 'it's in my wife's fanny bag', and the look on their face when we ask 'can I please bum a fag?'

In fact, it was only the other day when I realized that USians pronounce, say, '160' as "one hundred sixty", where we say "one hundred and sixty".

 

[honestrosewater]

In fact, it was only the other day when I realized that USians pronounce, say, '160' as "one hundred sixty", where we say "one hundred and sixty".

I say "one hundred and sixty". Do UKans say still call 23 "three and twenty"?

 

[brewnog]

I say "one hundred and sixty". Do UKans say still call 23 "three and twenty"?

The hardcore might. Wolram probably does, but that's cos he thinks, urm, how do you say it, 'chicks dig that sh*t'?

 

[honestrosewater]

The hardcore might. Wolram probably does, but that's cos he thinks, urm, how do you say it, 'chicks dig that sh*t'?

Does he also dance around singing "When I was one-and-twenty"? That would certainly turn me on.

 

[Anttech]

'can I please bum a fag?'

Aye, got some benny edges 'ere if you like :-)

 

[TheStatutoryApe]

I don't think I have ever used "whilst" before. The times I have heard it, here in the states, it seems like the people doing so were being sarcastic and/or condecending.

I do use different spellings of words on occasion. I add the "u" in words like colour and honour. It comes from the books I read as a kid, I loved Sherlock Holmes. The words just don't look right to me spelled otherwise.

 

[Moonbear]

In fact, it was only the other day when I realized that USians pronounce, say, '160' as "one hundred sixty", where we say "one hundred and sixty".

Sometimes we just say it "one-sixty." I used to say it "one hundred and sixty" until I had a math teacher drill it out of me in elementary school.

 

[brewnog]

I used to say it "one hundred and sixty" until I had a math teacher drill it out of me in elementary school.

Bloody teachers. Go round and drill it into her not to mess with MY language. Hmph!

 

[Physics is Phun]

I would only use whilst to if I wanted to really accent the word while. Even then I would not be able to say it without some humour involved, just because it's such a silly word.
I also spell it, centre and humour. and I was taught to say "one hundred sixty" but I only do about half the time.
As far as I'm concerned, the English spelling of things is the only way. They don't call it ENGLISH for nothing !

 

[pattylou]

Bloody teachers. Go round and drill it into her not to mess with MY language. Hmph!

Why "bloody?" I never understood that. Can you explain how that expression came to be?

And to Americans: How many of you automatically visualize Corporal Peter Newkirk of Hogan's Heroes when you hear the word "bloody" used in conversation? Played by Richard Dawson (and I had to google for those specifics; all that my brain has stored was the image of the character contacting the outside world on the teaset and saying "bloody machine, won't connect whilst Klink's on the phone...")

http://www.hogansheroesfanclub.com/images/photoNewkirkSmall.gif
Believe it or not, I never realized he was the same guy that did "Family Feud."

 

[brewnog]

Why "bloody?" I never understood that. Can you explain how that expression came to be?

As it happens, yes, I can.

As I've heard, the original curse was "By Our Lady in hell", and back in those days was, as you can imagine, a pretty hefty cuss. I suppose after numerous muttered curses (hitting thumb with hammer, that kind of thing), it turned into 'bloody hell'.

Another explanation relates to 'bloods', or certain aristocrats, frequently having drunken fights, but I'm not quite sure how that came about. I like my version.

 

[pattylou]

As it happens, yes, I can.

As I've heard, the original curse was "By Our Lady in hell", and back in those days was, as you can imagine, a pretty hefty cuss. I suppose after numerous muttered curses (hitting thumb with hammer, that kind of thing), it turned into 'bloody hell'.

Another explanation relates to 'bloods', or certain aristocrats, frequently having drunken fights, but I'm not quite sure how that came about. I like my version.

LOL. I like your version too. Thank you! I'll remember that! But... who is "Our Lady in Hell??"

 

[brewnog]

LOL. I like your version too. Thank you! I'll remember that! But... who is "Our Lady in Hell??"

Mary, mother of Jesus.

 

[pattylou]

... and why is she in Hell?

 

[brewnog]

... and why is she in Hell?

That's the cuss, it's blasphemy.

 

[pattylou]

Oh. She's our "Lady in Heaven," and you edited it? i take it you're a good atheist?

da...de dum. Waiting for thirty seconds to pass... da... de dum. S'pose I could edit instead... da... de dum.

Edit: Aha. thank you.

 

[brewnog]

As I understand it, the original curse was "by Our Lady in hell". It was blasphemy, a swear word, basically damning the Madonna to hell. Over time, it turned into "bloody hell", hence today's expression.

 

[honestrosewater]

Something similar helps date texts of Shakespeare's plays. I can't find the links right now, but for instance 'sblood, 'swounds, or even zounds are abbreviations of the curses or oaths Christs' blood or God's blood and Christ's wounds. The abbreviations were used because laws were passed outlawing the longer versions (or something). So if you find the full curse God's blood in a text, it was very likely published before the laws went into effect.

Okay, here's one:

Stokes (Chronological Order of Shakespeare's Plays) shows that it was written before 1606 by the fact that in the quarto of 1622 (i.1.4) we find the oath "S'blood" (God's blood), while this is omitted in the folio. This indicates that the quarto was printed from a copy made before the act of Parliament issued in 1606 against the abuse of the name of God in plays, etc. So "Zounds" and "by the mass" (in ii.3) are found in the quarto but not in the folio. (293)
- http://www.shakespeare-online.com/playanalysis/othello.html

Yeah, so I had it a bit wrong. I may see if I can find another supporting my version.

 

[arildno]

All right, then.
So, to Americans "whilst" is in any context a rather artificial construction that if it is to be used at all, only should be used sparingly, perhaps in order to give particular emphasis to what you're saying.

For Brits, it is rather different, and that it isn't particularly snobbish to say something like "Please keep the seat belts on whilst the train is in motion".

But I wonder about the usage of "whilst" in its comparative connotation as well, like:
"I'm tall, whilst my girl-friend is short".
To me, this sounds a bit archaic..
Is it?

 

[abhishek]

I had a physics teacher in high school who was from England. He never used 'while', preferring 'whilst' in all cases. I involuntarily cringe when I hear it, not that it sounds pompous or artificial.

It's a lot like encountering ampersands when reading text. It's perfectly valid & it can even look good typographically & so on, but it just doesn't flow well, eh?

Whilst I dislike it, though, it has probably slipped into my compositions on occasion.