Whilst

[David Wake]

Listen to the way this guy from Alabama says "why".

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HQdTgkY321s

Sent from my iPhone

On Jul 16, 2010, at 20:20, Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       Tom Zurinskas <truespel at HOTMAIL.COM>
> Subject:      Re: Whilst
> ---
> ---
> ---
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> I looked up "whilst" in the "MacMillan Dictionary for Children" that
> I just bought (I'm collecting dictionaries).  It does not contain
> the word "whilst".  Only "while" and that in verb form as well.
> (Does whilst have a verb form too?)
>
> Interestingly every word that starts with "wh" is given a first
> pronunciation of ~hw and a second of ~w (except those pronounced as
> ~h, as in who).  I never hear ~hw in USA.  I don't say ~hw so that
> may have something to do with it.
>
> Imagine "whoa" as "hwoa"
>
> Tom Zurinskas, USA - CT20, TN3, NJ33, FL7+
> see truespel.com phonetic spelling
>
>
>
> ----------------------------------------
>> Date: Fri, 16 Jul 2010 17:11:25 -0300
>> From: dad at POKERWIZ.COM
>> Subject: Whilst
>> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU
>>
>> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
>> -----------------------
>> Sender: American Dialect Society
>> Poster: "David A. Daniel"
>> Subject: Whilst
>> ---
>> ---
>> ---
>> ---
>> -------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>> A while ago, TZ and somebody - don't remember who - had a tiff
>> about whether
>> Americans say whilst. TZ was saying they do not. I agreed (quietly
>> - I
>> didn't write anything) at the time, thinking it mostly a Britism.
>> Well,
>> immediately thereafter I started hearing whilst all over the place on
>> American TV shows. I thought: hmph. But then I thought: a lot of
>> writers for
>> US TV are Brits and Canadians as are many actors in the US. So
>> maybe there
>> was dialect leak going on, with American actors saying Brit/
>> Canadian-written
>> lines, or Brit/Canadian actors saying whilst and not knowing
>> they're not
>> supposed to. I was satisfied with that hypothesis until the other
>> day I was
>> watching CNN and the interviewee, the District Attorney of some
>> Podunk
>> county in Ohio, said whilst. So now I'm in a funk and don't know
>> what to
>> think. Maybe he is another sleeper spy who missed the ESL class on
>> while/whilst and thus gave himself away, like when Tony Franciosa
>> said
>> loo-tenant instead of leff-tenant and gave himself away as not
>> being a Brit.
>> DAD
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------
>> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> _________________________________________________________________
> Hotmail has tools for the New Busy. Search, chat and e-mail from
> your inbox.
> http://www.windowslive.com/campaign/thenewbusy?ocid=PID28326::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:WM_HMP:042010_1
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org