Gramer Girl here. I'm Minion Fuggedy and this week I have a quick and dirty tip about the

words until and till. And in honor of Father's Day, which is coming up in the United States,

in a singular, Father apostrophe S, I have a meeting middle about dad jokes. Let's get

started.

I regularly receive questions from people who are confused about the words until, till,

till, till, till apostrophe, till. When you're talking about a period of time that must

lapse before something happens, till, till, till, till, and until, are equivalent. Don't

believe me? Check a dictionary. Some sources say that until sometimes has a more formal

sound than till, but often the two words are just interchangeable. Here are two examples.

We spun in circles until we were dizzy. We ran till we were breathless. And till isn't

a contraction of until, either. There are two separate words until actually came first.

It's the older word first used in the 12th century. People didn't start using until, until

the 13th century. Nearly all the style guides I checked recommended against using till,

apostrophe, T.I.L. For example, the American heritage dictionary of the English language

says the form is quote, etymologically incorrect, unquote. The Chicago manual of style says it

should not be written apostrophe T.I.L. And Garner's modern English usage calls it incorrect

with no literary history. In fact, Garner's says people didn't really even start thinking

of apostrophe T.I.L. as being okay until the 1980s. So it's really quite a recent error.

Many style guides also go out of their way to emphasize that till, T.I.L.L. is fine,

which is often a clue that at some point people said it wasn't. And given that I've had

to answer questions about disputes over the word, I think that if you want to completely

avoid controversy, it's safest to stick with until. But I'll do my part and say there's

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