In a world where there's so many things that piss me off, let's take a little side trip down Pet Peeve Lane to talk about something that pisses me off without any global or societal ramifications...
TILL.
Now, it's a perfectly valid word on its own. You can till a field, for instance. Or you can till your garden.
But when it's used as a contraction for the word UNTIL, it totally pisses me off. Sure sure, the dictionaries have caved and said TILL is now considered a proper way to convey UNTIL. Except it's not. It's totally not. And I don't care if it's become accepted. It's wrong.
When you take letters off a word to shorten it, it becomes a contraction and it needs an apostrophe. UNTIL would then become 'TIL. Not TILL.
Where's the apostrophe?
You might just as well say ISNT is okay in place of IS NOT. Or IVE works instead of I'VE. Or WELL is peachy when you're saying WE WILL. That last one makes it kinda confusing, don't it? Because WELL is a word that means something totally different. Like...
TILL
And where the hell did the extra L come from? There's no rule anywhere that says when you take two letters off the front of UNTIL, you add a extra L at the end. For what? Balance?
Might as well make 'TIS into TISS. Remove a letter from the front, add an extra letter at the end. Right?
Bah and feh.
So, I'll keep using 'TIL when I want to shorten UNTIL. And I'll keep getting irritated when I see others using TILL. Because it makes no sense.
Some days, I wish that was the only irritating, nonsensical thing in my life. But it's not. You do not want to know what I could've ranted about this morning.
Your turn. What non global or societal thing could you rant about this morning? Have at it.
I wouldn't even know where to start, ha!
ReplyDeleteActually, I could start with the sign at the express lane at Walmart: "10 Items or Less." It should be "10 Items or Fewer." Come on, Walmart!
I only use 'til in conversation because...we southerners do that. Till as a substitute? Seriously? Rant worthy for sure. After the local news for weather and traffic updates, I turn off the tube. I can't afford to start the day with the stupid people blowing my blood pressure sky high.
ReplyDeleteI'm sitting here trying to think of something innocuous that makes me put on my Ranty McPanty pants...OH! I hate books that include a complete description in their title as a way to do...something market-y that makes no sense to me and just tweaks me off because...y'all? I'm tellin' ya, not gonna buy that puppy no matter how good your writing/story might be. Just not gonna. Example (totally made up but used a real title as a template): Her Sexy Billionaire in Love with his BBW Curvy Secretary: A Billioanire Boss BBW Sweet and Steamy Romance (The Billionaires Want Curves Hot, Sexy but Sweet Series). I do not lie.
And now I need more coffee. Waaaay more coffee! Happy Monday.
On a related subject: Allowing text-speak and twitter-speak to become "standard" English. It's not! I admit it will be eventually, but please don't give up the fight for comprehensible language so easily. Some of us have no idea what they are talking about, and sometimes I suspect neither do the texters.
ReplyDeleteGrumpy pants today.