How to Write a Good Story

Grammar Girl & Grammar Party: until, 'til, till, til

Recently a reader asked me what the difference is between til, till, until, and 'til. Well, here's what I discovered while researching:

GRAMMAR GIRL SAYS:
My roommate asked me how to spell the first word of Till death do us part (for reasons that I don't fully recall, but it definitely wasn't because we were starting some odd sort of relationship). We agreed there were three possibilities:

til, till, 'til

I quickly responded that 'til was the logical choice, a truncation of until, with the missing un marked by an apostrophe. Open-and-shut case. Except that it wasn't. It kept gnawing at me. Had I seen people use till in that context? Why would they do that? So I made the same mistake I often do, and I looked into exactly what the deal was. First off, let's look at some proponents of each form:

'Tils:
'Til Tuesday, Aimee Mann's semi-pivotal 80s band
'Til Death, Brad Garrett's follow-up to Everybody Loves Raymond
Waiting 'Til the Midnight Hour: A Narrative History of Black Power in America

Tills:
Till Death Us Do Part, British sitcom that paved the way for All in the Family
From Dusk Till Dawn, movie featuring Salma Hayek dancing and (so it is rumored) some other plot as well.

(Til is hard to find attestations of - people seem to be pretty good at remembering to put apostrophes at the words when the first syllable is removed.) So why would anyone spell it till if it's coming from until? Well, it turns out that till isn't derived from until. Till and 'til are actually two different words with two different etymologies. Till is the earlier form, attested as early as 1330; Until is actually derived from till, not the other way around as in 'til (a backformation which showed up much later). Both are common, so it's up to you which one you like. Till is commoner in Scotland, where it can be used like dative to in some situations, while 'til is commoner in the U.S. Take your pick.

but it seems the opinion on the words differs:

GRAMMAR PARTY (Erin Roof):
David Bowie had the song "Love You Till Tuesday," but Michael Jackson had "Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough."
Motörhead had an entire album named No Sleep 'Til Hammersmith, but Shirley Bassey just sang "Till."
Sometimes in songs, poetry, and simple everyday conversation, it feels more natural to use the shortened version of until. But which version is correct: 'til or till?
The case for till:
It would follow that till evolved as an abbreviation of until. However, till is actually the older word, being about eight hundred years old in comparison with until's mere four hundred years. Until came into being as a compound of till, which originally meant to-and still does in Scotland-and the Old Norse word und, which means up to.
Since till is the etymological forefather of until, it makes sense that it would be the best choice for a shortened version of until.
The case for 'til:
Using apostrophes to replace letters happens frequently in English. Think about goin' or rock 'n' roll. This makes 'til seem like a natural shortening of until. Besides, since when do we add an extra letter (the second l in till) when we abbreviate words?
The verdict:
Till is generally accepted as being more correct than 'til. According to the Associated Press Stylebook, till is the way to go. And, depending on which dictionary you use, 'til is either an accepted alternative spelling or a spelling error. Despite some sources considering 'til not technically wrong, it's best to use till as all sources consider it correct.
But what about til?
If you feel you must use t-i-l, be sure to use an apostrophe at the beginning. Til with no apostrophe is always incorrect.

So as you can see opinions vary on some things, but you can be sure using till, 'til, or until will be acceptable. Of course till also means to plow ground and a box with cash in :P have fun with that one folks :)

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