TechWhirl (TECHWR-L) is a resource for technical writing and technical communications professionals of all experience levels and in all industries to share their experiences and acquire information.
For two decades, technical communicators have turned to TechWhirl to ask and answer questions about the always-changing world of technical communications, such as tools, skills, career paths, methodologies, and emerging industries. The TechWhirl Archives and magazine, created for, by and about technical writers, offer a wealth of knowledge to everyone with an interest in any aspect of technical communications.
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.
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-