Rise in Use of Word "Whilst": Why?

  • Thread starter loseyourname
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In summary, the word 'whilst' is used more frequently than 'while' and has the same meaning. It is a less pretty sounding word and may be due to its influence from old English. It is used in any situation that 'while' can be used in.
  • #1
loseyourname
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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.
 
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  • #2
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."
 
  • #3
I think, in short, 'whilst' is only used as a connecting conjunction, whilst 'while' can also be used as a preposition.
 
  • #4
loseyourname said:
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.
 
  • #5
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.
 
  • #6
loseyourname said:
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.
 
  • #7
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.
 
  • #8
I think 'whilst' is really pretty common here, but so is ironic affectation.
 
  • #9
In fact: <http://dictionary.reference.com/search?q=while> [Broken]
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.
 
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  • #10
If Cambridge don't know, who does? <http://dictionary.cambridge.org/results.asp?searchword=whilst&image.x=47&image.y=8>
 
  • #11
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)
 
  • #12
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.
 
  • #13
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?
 
  • #14
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
 
  • #15
So, you use it as an "emphasizing technique", then?
It would be interesting to see if native speakers are in agreement on these issues..
 
  • #16
arildno said:
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.
 
  • #17
selfAdjoint said:
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? :wink:
 
  • #18
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?
 
  • #19
Anttech said:
ayll be Pittin ma mither tung on the wab, you ken?

I like Scots. You have very practical clothes, for example.
 
  • #20
selfAdjoint said:
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.
 
  • #21
zoobyshoe said:
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?
 
  • #22
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
 
  • #23
arildno said:
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.
 
  • #24
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).
 
  • #25
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.
 
  • #26
Moonbear said:
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.
 
  • #27
El Hombre Invisible said:
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'.
 
  • #28
arildno said:
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...
 
  • #29
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.
 
  • #30
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.
 
  • #31
pattylou said:
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".
 
  • #32
brewnog said:
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"?
 
  • #33
honestrosewater said:
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'?
 
  • #34
brewnog said:
The hardcore might. Wolram probably does, but that's cos he thinks, urm, how do you say it, 'chicks dig that sh*t'?
:rofl: Does he also dance around singing "When I was one-and-twenty"? That would certainly turn me on. :biggrin:
 
  • #35
'can I please bum a fag?'

Aye, got some benny edges 'ere if you like :-)
 
<h2>1. What is the meaning of the word "whilst"?</h2><p>The word "whilst" is a conjunction that means "during the time that" or "at the same time as". It is often used in place of "while" in British English.</p><h2>2. Why has there been a rise in the use of the word "whilst"?</h2><p>The use of "whilst" has become more popular in recent years due to its use in British English and its perceived formality. It is also used to add variety to writing and speech, rather than always using "while".</p><h2>3. Is "whilst" considered a formal word?</h2><p>Yes, "whilst" is generally considered a formal word. It is more commonly used in written language rather than in spoken language, and is often seen in academic or professional contexts.</p><h2>4. How does the use of "whilst" differ from "while"?</h2><p>The main difference between "whilst" and "while" is their level of formality. "Whilst" is considered more formal than "while" and is more commonly used in British English. Additionally, "whilst" is often used to emphasize a contrast or difference, while "while" can be used in a more general sense of time.</p><h2>5. Are there any common mistakes when using the word "whilst"?</h2><p>One common mistake when using "whilst" is to use it in place of "until". "Whilst" should only be used to indicate a period of time, not an endpoint. Another mistake is using "whilst" in informal situations, as it is generally considered a formal word.</p>

1. What is the meaning of the word "whilst"?

The word "whilst" is a conjunction that means "during the time that" or "at the same time as". It is often used in place of "while" in British English.

2. Why has there been a rise in the use of the word "whilst"?

The use of "whilst" has become more popular in recent years due to its use in British English and its perceived formality. It is also used to add variety to writing and speech, rather than always using "while".

3. Is "whilst" considered a formal word?

Yes, "whilst" is generally considered a formal word. It is more commonly used in written language rather than in spoken language, and is often seen in academic or professional contexts.

4. How does the use of "whilst" differ from "while"?

The main difference between "whilst" and "while" is their level of formality. "Whilst" is considered more formal than "while" and is more commonly used in British English. Additionally, "whilst" is often used to emphasize a contrast or difference, while "while" can be used in a more general sense of time.

5. Are there any common mistakes when using the word "whilst"?

One common mistake when using "whilst" is to use it in place of "until". "Whilst" should only be used to indicate a period of time, not an endpoint. Another mistake is using "whilst" in informal situations, as it is generally considered a formal word.

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