Whilst

[twirlgrrl]

It seems that "whilst" is replacing "while" in American English, at least as written on the internet. I see it all over LJ posts by Americans, and I even just saw it in a Wikipedia entry where I would not have expected it. What's the deal? Is it because of Harry Potter?

Comments

[gen-here.livejournal.com]

Must be... since I haven't seen it and I don't read those books =)

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

I haven't/don't either.

[aubreym.livejournal.com]

I'm not sure it's specifically Harry Potter... I'm wondering if it's more of the general increase of popular fantasy series. Harry Potter, but also Lord of the Rings and the Chronicles of Narnia?

Or maybe it's just another annoying net thing, like l33t speak.

[hallsl.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's either Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings. Always amusing to track these things down, but I've not run across it and I do read *those* books.

[sprig5.livejournal.com]

what's l33t speak? i haven't noticed "whilst"

[tellinellen.livejournal.com]

i don't think i've seen that.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

You're probably right that it's more than just Harry Potter. Harry Potter and the LOTR stuff has just been so insanely popular lately, and I think that a huge chunk of internet people are into them, so they seem the most likely source. Is there another source of Anglophilia for the younger folks that I'm not aware of?

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leet

I'm a fan. :-)

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Really? Why don't you think so? I can't think of another source. The kids sure are into *those* books (LOL) these days. I'm thinking of all the HP & LOTR fanfic on LJ and wondering if it all ties in.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

You probably aren't reading the same communities as me. :-)

[hallsl.livejournal.com]

I don't think so because I've read all those books. Why do you think so if you've not read them? Tolkien was an Oxford Don and wouldn't use a fakey pseudo-poetic word like that. Rowling's language is uniformly straightforward and modern, posing no linguistic challenges at all. I suppose it might be that some fan fiction would develop locutions designed to be fake British, but it would be fan fiction written by kinda clueless fans.

[twirlgrrl.livejournal.com]

Purely because I'm seeing "whilst" on LJ and I also see a lot of Harry Potter fanfic on LJ too. I'm actually in a community called hp_britglish in which HP fans write to ask about British words, terms, usage, places etc. for use in their fanfic. So that's my only guess as to where all these "whilsts" are coming from. I believe "whilst" is commonly used in modern Great Britain, or at least by British LJ users, but I'm wondering why it's being used so much by American LJ users.