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Anonymous,
83 days ago
As a native English speaker, born and living in England, I'd like to confirm that both 'while' and 'whilst' are in common usage in the UK and the previous replies more than adequately describe how to use them.
However, as some of you seem to be quite curious about the differences between American and British English as a language, don't forget that even within a single country there can be regional differences.
Curiously, there is another meaning of 'while'; the local form used in parts of the North (commonly Yorkshire and surrounds) which has a completely different meaning.
This replaces the word 'until', for example "I'll sit here while sun goes down" (I'll sit here until the sun goes down). Note also that the "the" before "sun" has been omitted.
This is very commonly used in Yorkshire; so much so that at railway crossings the sign used to read "Wait while red lights flash", but urban legend has it that this meant Yorkshire farmers waited UNTIL the lights were flashing to cross! Not sure if I believe this one, but suffice to say the signs now read "STOP when lights show".
Obviously if anyone with an American accent tries to use this form of 'while' in England, they may get funny looks. but just thought you may wish to know and who knows? If you bump into a Yorkshireman it may help avoid confusion!
Anonymous,
83 days ago
While and whilst are conjunctions whose primary meaning is "during the time that". An example is:
The days were hot while we were on vacation.
I read a magazine whilst I was waiting.
While and whilst can nowadays legitimately be used in the contrastive sense of although or whereas, provided that it is not ambiguous (although some commentators, such as Eric Partridge, have frowned upon such use):
While Sally plays, Sue works.
This sentence can mean either "During the time that Sally plays, Sue works" or "Although Sally plays, Sue works".
Fowler's Modern English Usage disapproves of several uses of "while". At times it is inappropriately used as a conjunctive: actual conjunctions such as "and" should be used instead. Its usage as "elegant variation" is also discouraged, as it is masquerading as a "formal word".[1]
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[edit] While and whilst
In standard British English and Australian English, whilst is synonymous with while in meaning and usage.
In American English and Canadian English, whilst can be considered pretentious or archaic[2][3]
Some publications on both sides of the Atlantic disapprove of whilst in their style guides (along with "amidst" and "amongst"), for example:
- Times Online Style Guide: "while (not whilst)"[4]
- Guardian Style Guide: "while not whilst"[5]
- Hansard: the Canadian Parliament record: "while not whilst"[6]
Notably, there are no style guides that explicitly recommend the usage of whilst over while in any circumstance whatsoever. The general consensus among scholars of English is that whilst is an unnecessary and archaic word whose primary usage is by Britons who prefer what they perceive as a more 'noble' word. Its etymology derives from the early English whiles, and simply put, while is the word that has replaced whilst in modern English[7], just as thee and thou were replaced by you.
[edit] Other meanings
In some Northern English while (but not whilst) usually takes the meaning of until, as in
- "I shall wait while you are ready."[citation needed]
- "We went for a walk, from ten while eleven" (we went for a walk, from ten o' clock, until eleven o' clock)
Anonymous,
83 days ago
English Usage: Whilst Or While?
By:whichenglish
Let me begin by saying that there are a number of people who will always insist on using whilst over while. Now, while (whilst) they are perfectly free to choose their own words because there is no 'rule' about these things, those who insist on whilst often do so according to an misinformed understanding that it is 'better', 'correct', 'more formal' or 'superior' to plain old, common while. But is it?
The while/whilst dilemma is a funny one. It is one of these cases where the option has for many become a hard-and-fast rule. The unyielding whilst-brigade will often insist on changing other peoples' whiles into whilsts, often together with a ticking off or two for the overt display of linguistic tardiness.
Before I delve further into this linguistic dark matter, the Americans in the room are excused: the use of whilst, according to the OED, is 'chiefly British'. So if you are writing for a US audience just stick to while. You may leave now.
Now, there may still be one or two Americans still in the room. This will undoubtedly be because you, too, are followers of the almighty 'whilst-is-better' philosophy. I may sound patronising, and perhaps I am, but the tone is no more harmful than being on the receiving end of an earful of "it should be whilst, not while".
So, what is this whilst/while business all about? Who is 'right'? First, it is not a case of wrong spelling, both words are spelt ('spelled' for the Americans in the class) correctly; that is not the problem. Nor is it an Americanism versus Briticism thing. Third, it isn't necessarily a case of old versus new -- not the whole story anyway. The main problem is one of evolution, but part of the problem is one of consistency.
My old OED from 1930 writes: 'whilst less usual form of while'. My 2007 version of the OED describes whilst as 'chiefly British' and a word that dates back to Middle English (mid-1000s to mid-1400s). It derives from the word whiles + t, in the same way as against. The origin of against is: again + -s + -t = again + adverbial genitive + superlative.
The -s comes from the adverbial genitive and the -t is thought to be associated with superlatives such as amongst. The word 'among' comes from the Old English (mid-400s to mid-1100s) ongemang, which itself is made from on (meaning in) and gemang (meaning assemblage). Put another way, we can turn the word bad into the adverbial superlative baddest.
Let's get back to our esteemed friend whilst. The OED writes that it comes from whiles + t. What does whiles mean? It sounds terribly old fashioned. Both the 1930 and 2007 OED describe it as an archaic form of while. So, in other words, our modern while used to be the word whiles -- which sometimes had a -t attached to it.
Other words of a similar type at the time were somewhiles and otherwhiles. I can't say that I've ever heard those words being used with much frequency of late, not even by the most formal of English speakers. In case you do decide to adopt them into everyday English, somewhiles means 'formerly' and otherwhiles means 'at times'.
If you haven't guessed by now, I am a fan of while. I do so because I accept the fact that while is the modern word for what was somewhiles whilst or whiles. And I am not alone.
There is also another reason, and this is perhaps the reason why the majority of international media organisations and publishers the world over choose while over whilst (I'm not saying that there aren't those that do). This second reason has to do with, not 'correctness' or degrees of 'formality', but consistency. The problem with choosing - or insisting on using - whilst is that once you've done so you also have to take a similar position towards amidst, amongst and unbeknownst. Start insisting on whilst and you'll soon find that by always using whilst you'll also have to always use amongst. If not, why not?
Amidst, amongst and unbeknownst are also unnecessarily archaic and stuffy. They are, in other words, old fashioned.
The problem with using whilst is it is simply an archaic form of a word kept alive longer than necessary. There was a time when instead of think, we used to trow. There was a time when verbs in the third-person singular were -(e)th when written but -(e)s when spoken. There was also a time when whiles and whilst were used. But no more.
Look up amidst in the OED and what you'll find 'literary variant of amid'. Herein (which, by the way, is a formal word) lies the truth behind the reluctance to let whilst die a graceful death: it's what Fowler and Fowler labelled the amateurism of 'conscious archaism'.
In The King's English (1906) H G and F W Fowler wrote: 'It is conscious archaism that offends, above all the conscious archaisms of the illiterate.' Archaisms are, according to them, 'deliberate ornaments' used by the amateur writer. An 'educated' writer chooses archaisms that are 'less hackneyed' than the amateur, less frequently than the amateur and to a strict allowance. The amateur, on the other hand, 'indulges us with his whole repertoire'.
The problem of 'conscious archaism' may not be a new phenomenon, but bad writing often ultimately comes down to an incongruence of style. The professional writer, publisher, copywriter or journalist will deploy language that is appropriate to the task. The professional will also be aware of traps of inconsistency that lurk in spoken and written English. The professional will not insist on peppering his or her writing with flowery archaisms for the sole purpose of wanting to impress.
The best reason not to use whilst is a simple one: there is simply no need. RIP whilst.
The author is the editor and founder of www.whichenglish.com
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Clive
+
883035
Wed, 02 Sep 09 05:10 AM
Hi,
Stil and all, nice to have a little variety in the language. 
Best wishes, Clive
Joined on
Thu, Oct 28 2004
Canada
Veteran Member
29,628
El tango argentino es un pensamiento triste que se puede bailar (The tango argentino is a sad thought which can be danced) Enrique Santos Discépolo
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Anonymous,
81 days ago
As an American living in England, I can assure you that whilst is alive and well. Of course, that might have something to do with the fact that the era of King James doesn't seem so long ago to many of my meighbours.
Anonymous,
53 days ago
 nona the brit“ No there is no rule.The two words have the same meaning, 'whilst' is the older version (some dictionaries list it as obsolete) and it usually appears only in formal or poetic writing.
If you stick to 'while' you won't ever be wrong, whereas 'whilst' can easily look out of place. ”
Actually, several authoritative sources cite "whilst" as the neologism, with "while" being the older form. Michael Quinion's excellent World Wide Words site does give brief mention of this.
As for rules for when to use whilst vs. while, I agree that any such rules are silly and probably wrong (i.e., received wisdom from a less-than-reliable source). It seems the words are effectively interchangeable. One site does assert that in the sense of "when," whilst is the preferred term, but I've never seen anything authoritative to back this up. (They give two sentences as examples: "I first met her while I was working for a company in the Midlands." vs. "I first met her whilst working for a company in the Midlands." Note how the version with while uses "I was," while the version with whilst omits this. Many Americans I know would simply use while and omit the "I was," since that would be implicit. I'm sure some grammar expert out there might complain about this...)
I've seen assertions that "whilst" implies a past tense, and "while" implies ongoing activity -- again, without any authoritative sources to back that up. Similarly, I've seen several people come up with the rule of thumb that "whilst" should be used when a verb that follows is a form of the verb to be. That sounds almost legitimate, but I haven't been able to find any confirmation of that rule other than people saying, "this is what I was taught in school."
The best guideline I've seen for the use of whilst vs. while is when a speaker wishes to avoid a hard glottal stop -- typically before a word that starts with a vowel, you'd use whilst. That is, if you use both.
Anonymous,
53 days ago
Anonymous “American-English was British-English, except that it was altered significantly by all of the various influences (immigrants/languages from other countries) that learned to speak it in America. Everyone in the UK knows how to communicate in English and sure there are different dialects. However, in America, immigrants were learning english from immigrants...now guess what happened? ”
That's actually a pretty racist/prejudicial way of putting things. It's also historically inaccurate in the extreme.
The differences in orthography (spelling) and grammar between American and British English are not the result of "corruption by immigrants" or any other such nonsense. Some orthographic differences are the result of fiat -- Noah Webster was a big proponent of spelling reform, and complained bitterly of the influence that the British aristocracy had over the teaching of the language, so he pushed simplified or alternate spellings of words in some cases. (In other cases, Webster documented existing usage in America, which was already diverging from that in Britain.) Other orthographic differences are the result of linguistic evolution over time, where Americans actually retained an older spelling that was "frozen in time" while Britain adopted a newer spelling. For example, "math" is the preferred shortening of mathematics in America, whereas "maths" is preferred in Britain. You might think that "maths" is the older form, but you'd be wrong. Maths is a British neologism, and math is the original, older form. The same can be said for pronunciation -- vowels shift over time in any language, and American vowels include sounds that have almost completely fallen out of use in the UK.
I can make similar arguments for the few grammatical differences that exist between America and Britain. To my ear, most of the noticeable differences (other than accent/pronunciation) are idiomatic expressions and slang terms. The occasional use of "whilst" just sounds different enough to be noticeable, and maybe raise an eyebrow here in the States, but is otherwise unremarkable. By way of contrast, while reading a recent article in a UK newspaper about homeless people in Las Vegas living in storm drains, I had to completely stop reading and do a Google search to figure out that a skip is what Americans would call a trash can or a garbage can. (Why didn't the author use something like "rubbish bin"?)
If you take the long view, everyone is an immigrant. This is especially true of the UK. So when you talk about immigrants learning English from immigrants, that statement could easily apply to the UK in just about any of the last... 10 centuries or so? Your own comment about English being "Frenched-up German" supports this view. While immigration does add new flavors to an existing language, I don't think immigration patterns are to blame for the primary differences between British and American dialects.
Anonymous,
27 days ago
While is temporal. Whilst means 'although'. It's not simply a matter of 'quaintness' as most people think.
Anonymous,
26 days ago
"For example, "math" is the preferred shortening of mathematics in America, whereas "maths" is preferred in Britain. You might think that "maths" is the older form, but you'd be wrong. Maths is a British neologism, and math is the original, older form."
Utter and absolute nonsense.
Maths is called maths because it is the shortened version of the word "mathematics".
Mathematics is a collection of mathematical disciplines, and therefore a plural, referring to mathematic endeavors.
As such, the only correct shortened version of mathematics, is maths.
You cannot shorten the word for a plural, a collective noun, or a mass (non-count) noun, to make it a word which represents a singular entity, it just doesn't make sense.
The English language, funnily enough, originates from England, and has existed for far longer than Britain, which was founded in 1707, has.
Modern English developed with the Great Vowel Shift that began in 15th-century England.
English is English, not British.
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