Is there any reason for the words "amongst" and "whilst"?

[RidonKs]

Apart from sounding smarter? And they do, I'd much rather use "amongst" in a paper over "among", but still, what's the deal? Is this a Britain/American thing like u's after o's, or something else?

[halffttime]

do you have ass hair?

[kwajo]

Adding the 't' is like adding a superlative to the end of those words, and the 's' is for the adverb genitive (the case), that's what it is for.

[G-train]

hell yes. Amongst is a key word in an all time classic aussie saying...

"GET AMONGST IT!"

eg. "Daddy I am going to footy now"

"GET AMONGST IT!"


"I'm going to the club to pick up..."

"GET AMONGST IIIIIIIIIIIIIIT!"

[RidonKs]

Originally Posted by kwajo

Adding the 't' is like adding a superlative to the end of those words, and the 's' is for the adverb genitive (the case), that's what it is for.

Are among and while the kind of words that really need to be emphasized though?

[HisAirness]

I'm not from the UK and I have a horrible habit of spelling things like "color" with a "u" in it.

[ihatetimthomas]

brits trying to sound smarter thats all

[barne100]

amongst the greater reasons include, an emphasis, or a superior intellect, whilst some of the negatives include being harder to say if you happen to have a lisp or increasing the chance of sounding like a prick.

seeing the word "WHILST" is weird.. always thought it was a typo

[JtotheIzzo]

being civilized

[Clifton]

When you have a choice between two words, using the one that sounds less pretentious is almost always the better bet if you don't know for sure which one's right. Even for stuff like "who" vs. "whom." If you don't want to learn how to use "whom," that's fine, hardly anyone does, but for God's sake don't use it as a subject, because then it's both pretentious and wrong and then everyone hates you for it.

In American English I'm pretty sure "whilst" is a definite no-no. "Amongst" I'm not so certain about, but I'd probably avoid it.

[plowking]

Whilst this conversation is going on there are many amongst us using these words.

Eh, I don't think I'd ever use it and I don't even know if I used whilst correctly. So much for finishing college...

[crounsa810]

Originally Posted by barne100

amongst the greater reasons include, an emphasis, or a superior intellect, whilst some of the negatives include being harder to say if you happen to have a lisp .

Quick question: Anyone else have to stop and think for a second about whether to use effects or affect?

[YAWN]

i use both often but i dont know why

[RidonKs]

Originally Posted by YAWN

i use both often but i dont know why

:)