:: Grammar Attack ::

I've been a grammar freak all my life, questioning every single goddamn grammar, especially those pertaining British English (as in NOBLE and GOOD English) vs American English (of which I regard to be more "thrashy" and informal). Not to offend anyone, it's just ironic and funny that we Malaysians actually practice writing British-English, yet speaking American-English.

It all started with the all famous Centre vs Center. Dudes, why do you guys have to make English so difficult anyway? Bloody hell, in Malaysia, we also have our respective "slangs" when talking in Bahasa u know, but not to the extent of having different spellings and meanings! God damn it.

Ok, here's the deal.

I've been studying English all my life, of course everyone else too. The thing that irritates me currently is this:

Till vs. Til vs. Until

Oh, I browsed through few sites, including dictionary.reference.com....Apparently all the sites i've visited are of American's. OKAY~.

I've attended this Advanced English course 2 years ago, and also a few other Grammar and English courses throughout my life (yes, u can see what an insecure freak I am when it comes to getting it right in English, yet, I still do not sound as great as Shakespeare). In the course, they said people have mistakenly used Till and Until interchangeably. WHY?.

Ok. Til, actually with an aposthrophe; 'Til is an informal, shortform of the word Until. Ok, acceptable. Apparently 'Til has been used by advertising media blablabla just to create that "trend" or ""coolness" of English. Ok, whatever.

Then comes Till. According to the American sites i've visited, Till has been around for like freaking 800 years already and not until later that they came out with the word Until, to describe "up to". What i've learnt in the classes i went is that, we shouldn't get confused between Till and Until. Why?...They say, we should always practice PROPER English, because that's what English is all about. A proper language with great manners. Here's what I've learnt.

Till is the bloody squarish compartment that is situated at the bottom of a bloody Cash Register. What does it do? It bloody pops out upon keyed-in transactions. In English (proper, that is) Till means specifically that, nothing more.

Therefore if one were to use Until, they should opt for the whole word for proper, mannerly speaking (regardless verbally or written) to describe "up to", and could use 'Til when speaking informally.

I think PROPER English makes more sense, don't u think?

What is the happened to our England?! Hah!

--> see, i even colour-coded them for ease of comparison. how considerate. :P

p/s: this entry is open for creative discussions. i like opinions! :)