the word till (until)?

Question

when someone says" i didnt get online till really late.",does it mean the person got online really late? or he/she didn't get online at all?

Answer 1

Hello,
I think that "I didn't get online till really late." means that a person went online when it was really late. I do not believe that it means that the person didn't go online at all.
I've done a quick research about the word "till" and would like to include it here for all to benefit (especially me, since I had a debate with a close friend of mine about the usage of till and 'til. ;P)
Here it is:
http://www.cooldictionary.com/words/till.word
http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/till
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Till_(disambiguation)


Where you can see "till" used as until:
http://cco.cambridge.org/extract?id=ccol0521064317_CCOL0521064317_root

http://www.englit.ed.ac.uk/studying/undergrd/honours/3year/2005-2006/Presentation/handouts/st_criticalstyle2.htm
"THen as there was no art in the world till by experience found out"

Usage of till shown in many of Shakespeare's plays:

http://shakespeare.about.com/library/blasu_2_7.htm (please check and see how many till's are used) As You Like It

http://shakespeare.mit.edu/midsummer/full.html (A Midsummer Night's Dream)
Hermia's line "From lovers' food till morrow deep midnight"
Titania's "Perchance till after Theseus' wedding-day"
etc.


http://shakespeare.mit.edu/julius_caesar/full.html
Horde of till's.
Brutus's "Till then, my noble friend, chew upon this:" in Julius Caesar

Cassius's "I will do so: till then, think of the world."

Casca's "But never till to-night, never till now"

Desius Brutus's "Break up the senate till another time"

Artemidorus's "Here will I stand till Caesar pass along"


- Antony and Cleopatra http://www.opensourceshakespeare.org/views/plays/play_view.php?WorkID=antonycleo&Act=2&Scene=7&Scope=scene

Pompey's "Forbear me till anon".

- Romeo and Juliet
http://absoluteshakespeare.com/trivia/quotes/quotes.htm

"that I shall say good night till it be morrow"


Another: ROMEO: Did my heart love till now? Foreswear at sight, for I never saw true beauty till this night. (You can use this to comment on one of Chillel's photos. :-D )



- http://www.deanesmay.com/posts/1153317289.shtml
Macbeth
"Upon the next tree shalt thou hang alive,
Till famine cling thee: if thy speech be sooth"




Various websites discussing the word "till":
http://lkml.org/lkml/2007/5/12/111
http://www.learnenglish.org.uk/grammar/archive/short_answers05.html
http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/2001/02/13/stories/13130375.htm
http://itre.cis.upenn.edu/~myl/languagelog/archives/003299.html
http://www.randomhouse.com/wotd/index.pperl?date=19980605
http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=till&x=0&y=0
http://encarta.msn.com/dictionary_/till.html


On http://www.thedailypage.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=11012 :

"And the word "till" is rather strange as well. Technically, the word is an abbreviation for "until" and should contain an apostrophe to indicate the missing letters and only one "l." Hence " 'til." The word "till," however, seems to be acceptable to even the snobbiest of writers, even though when spelled with two l's, till is a synonym for plow, not "until." At any rate, under no circumstances should it be spelled with an apostrophe and two l's.

I was reading something containing the word "till" recently and its location kind of surprised me... it was either James Joyce or Oscar Wilde... I can't remember which.

pjbogart wrote:
And the word "till" is rather strange as well. Technically, the word is an abbreviation for "until" and should contain an apostrophe to indicate the missing letters and only one "l."


Oddly, this is incorrect.
The word "till" actually predates the word "until" - the prefix "un" was added later. Sometime in the 18th century, the usage "'till" (note the apostrophe) became common, later to be replaced by "'til". The former is now considered nonstandard, but the latter has become accepted although it is etymologically incorrect."

One final site which I've stumbled upon at the end of my research: http://www.onelook.com/?w=till

Good luck! Gambette.
Regards,
Solness

Answer 2

Till and until are generally interchangeable in both writing and speech, though as the first word in a sentence until is usually preferred... Till is actually the older word, with until having been formed by the addition to it of the prefix un-, meaning “up to.” In the 18th century the spelling 'till became fashionable, as if till were a shortened form of until. Although 'till is now nonstandard, 'til is sometimes used in this way and is considered acceptable, though it is etymologically incorrect.

Answer 3

It does mean 'until really late'. 'Till' is an acceptable shortening of 'until'. It means 'up to the time of'. It was late but I did get online.

Answer 4

"till" is a vernacular shortening of until. the person in ? did get online but it was late
however when i use the expresion in type i usually type "til" instead of adding the extra l "till"

Answer 5

"I didn't get online till really late".....means........
The person got online very late.

"till' is the short form for "until".
----------

Answer 6

Till is a word you use to plainly say you have done something at a referred to time~~

Answer 7

Your first option, i.e. I didn't get online until really late.

Answer 8

i think
he/she didn't get online at all