Re: It's what It's. OH THAT ONE !!

[David Neeley <dbneeley -at- oddpost -dot- com>]

I'm well aware of the tools and standards, thank you. 
  
However, language changes...and, with time, meanings can change as well. While there are situations in which there is a *useful* distinction between the two (such as the one immediately preceding), there are also areas of considereable overlap where any historical distinctions have long been lost. 
  
I'm all for precision in writing. As has already been pointed out, this particular distinction varies with which side of the Atlantic you may inhabit (or which side of the St. Lawrence River, eh?). In that event, any dictionary which gives one or the other definition depending upon its origin will mislead, albeit slightly, at least a small number of its users. 
  
Personally, I save my "Oh, Dears" for cases in which a distinction actually makes a difference. I think there are clearly times when either may be used with no loss of clarity or understanding. There are many nits I simply refuse to pick. 
  
If a particular construction can be used either way, and a literate British reader would prefer one and a literate American reader would prefer another, to insist that one is superior to the other without any particular difference in understanding among readers is sheer pedantry, only interesting to those who have a personal or professional interest in linguistics but totally useless to the typical reader. When I edit, I have enough battles to fight to be sure the work is clear and compelling to waste time and energy on a distinction which/that is often merely academic. 
  
Otherwise, we can engage in a comparison of "authoritative" sources that themselves differ on this particular point, although many would give both uses in equivocal cases as being correct. 
  
David