Re: In love with a word

Subject: Re: In love with a word
From: Geoff Lane <geoff -at- gjctech -dot- co -dot- uk>
To: TECHWR-L <techwr-l -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com>
Date: Thu, 5 Jan 2006 12:53:25 +0000

On Thursday, January 5, 2006, Anthony Kelly wrote;

> Oh no, what have we started?!!

> Actually I'm "oop north" in Sheffield as well, so that would suggest it's
> nothing to do with region and more to do with my personal dislikes. Or
> perhaps your colleagues are more well-to-do and "quaint" than mine :)
---

Perhaps its more a temporal difference.

Whilst "among" and "amongst" are exactly equivalent, "while" and
"whilst" are not. "While" has uses as a verb, a noun, an adverb, and a
conjunction, but "whilst" only has the latter two.

I'm "old-school" (early fifties, but not as old as Dick:) and in
formal documentation, unless writing for left-pondian colonials, use
"whilst" as a conjunction or adverb because it's the more specific of
the two words for that context.

That said, things change and I have noticed how we're losing the
language. We're becoming more sloppy. Even the teaching profession is
(IME) becoming sloppy. For example, a few years ago, I found this in
my son's school handbook:

"Drugs: the school will not condone the abuse of illegal drugs."

The Headmaster could not understand my dismay and insisted that,
because the Head of English wrote those words, that text was correct.

--
Geoff
Cornwall, UK

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

Now Shipping -- WebWorks ePublisher Pro for Word! Easily create online
Help. And online anything else. Redesigned interface with a new
project-based workflow. Try it today! http://www.webworks.com/techwr-l

Doc-To-Help 2005 now has RoboHelp Converter and HTML Source: Author
content and configure Help in MS Word or any HTML editor. No
proprietary editor! *August release. http://www.componentone.com/TECHWRL/DocToHelp2005

---
You are currently subscribed to TECHWR-L as archive -at- infoinfocus -dot- com -dot-

To unsubscribe send a blank email to
techwr-l-unsubscribe -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com
or visit http://lists.techwr-l.com/mailman/options/techwr-l/archive%40infoinfocus.com

To subscribe, send a blank email to techwr-l-join -at- lists -dot- techwr-l -dot- com

Send administrative questions to lisa -at- techwr-l -dot- com -dot- Visit
http://www.techwr-l.com/techwhirl/ for more resources and info.


Follow-Ups:

References:
RE: In love with a word: From: Anthony Kelly

Previous by Author: The Technical Writer vs. Agile Development Methodologies
Next by Author: Re: Friday Poll Idea (WAS: In love with a word)
Previous by Thread: RE: In love with a word
Next by Thread: Re: In love with a word


What this post helpful? Share it with friends and colleagues:


Sponsored Ads