till

[Laurence Horn]

At 9:37 AM -0400 10/3/01, Bruce Dykes wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Douglas Bigham" <TlhovwI at AOL.COM>
>To: <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
>Sent: Tuesday, October 02, 2001 23:17
>Subject: Re: till
>
>
>>  > Except that in telling time in the South Midland, no one would say "a
>>  >  quarter until eight"!  Nor would most people say "quarter to 8" or
>"quarter
>>  >  of 8."  So the only option is "till," and I'm sticking to it!
>>
>>
>>  I still can't decide if I'm saying "quater to" or "quarter til(l)".  All I
>>  get is "quarter t' "!
>
>That's about the same with me...hours that start with vowels get something
>like an extended apostrophe, while consonants get a shortened schwa. But it
>is actually an abbreviated 'until': "A quarter 't'eight." or "A quarter
>'ti'nine."
>
>When there is no hour given, it's always "quarter till."
>
>However, when signing off informal emails, I tradionally use 'till later,'
>but there I can use 'til and till interchangably. But I have a personal
>preference for 'til. It pleases me.
>
But, as the AHD4 usage note puts it, the 'TIL version is
"etymologically incorrect".