Consulting the Experts

So a few weeks ago I posted this post, which was actually in response to the department director telling me that I had approved a campaign with the word till when it should have been 'til.

His words made me feel like an idiot, and I felt horrible about it for a long time even though I was sure I had heard that till was the correct version.

But today, that changed.

While reading portions of June Casagrande's Grammar Snobs are Great Big Meanies, I came across an entire chapter about till vs 'til. I was intrigued, and it turns out my use of till wasn't incorrect. After consulting the Chicago Manual of Style and Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, I learned a few interesting things.

First, as defined by Chicago, till is a perfectly good preposition and conjunction (as in 'open till 10:00 p.m.'). It is not a contraction of until and should not be written 'til.

For the record, the definition of till is "to." Until means "a continuation," so yes, they are different words.

So what happened to create 'til, anyway? Turns out it is the more informal usage; it's a colloquial term for till, which came in the early 9th century (and actually, the term has been around longer than until, which showed up in the 1200s); 'til is a spinoff, probably deviated from classic abbreviations such as 'tis.

Bottom line? Chicago says till is fine, but never to use 'til. English Usage says to use till when writing for publication.

So I think I will.