# "Whilst" should be fucking banned **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [April 7, 2004, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681 "2004-04-07T03:35:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Balduran](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/cc9497/32.png) [@Balduran](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Balduran)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/21 "2004-04-07T13:34:40Z")
There is actually another definition of whilst. It also means “I am a prat, please kick me in the balls”. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/22 "2004-04-07T13:43:06Z")
Every so often, just to be obnoxious, my Dad uses “dastn’t”. “Should we open another bottle of wine?” “We dastn’t!” I don’t know for sure if it’s a real word, but it’s real in our little world. ---
**Author:** ![Susie\_Derkins](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e47774/32.png) [@Susie\_Derkins](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Susie_Derkins)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/23 "2004-04-07T13:57:50Z")
“Dastn’t”. Hee! I must append my vocabulary posthaste, methinks! BTW, “methinks” is one that gets under my skin like scabies. ---
**Author:** ![Lord\_Ashtar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/7ea924/32.png) [@Lord\_Ashtar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lord_Ashtar)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/24 "2004-04-07T14:00:09Z")
> [@agiantdwarf](#): > > Is there any more pretentious word than “whilst”? Is there any reason to use “whilst” instead of “while”? > > Damn you whilst-users! Lamest. Rant. Ever. Sorry, I just couldn’t help myself. ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/25 "2004-04-07T14:04:53Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > I’ve used it in writing before, never spoken though. > I think it has a certain poetic je-ne-sais-quois. . . . Um, you mean it has a certain \*\*pathetic \*\* _je ne sais quois_. I included “whilst” in a recent pit thread about usages that just make me want to screem. Another: “by the by.” ---
**Author:** ![gum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bbe5ce/32.png) [@gum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gum)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/26 "2004-04-07T14:23:13Z")
Whilst is bad alright. That said; I HATE \* ‘that said;’. \* Please think of something else. My teeth hurt when I read it. ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 2:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/27 "2004-04-07T14:36:53Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > “Dastn’t”. Hee! I must append my vocabulary posthaste, methinks! > > BTW, “methinks” is one that gets under my skin like scabies. Oh, yeah…the “methinks” is right up there with “behest.” Don’t even THINK about it! ---
**Author:** ![Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hentor\_the\_Barbarian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hentor_the_Barbarian)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/28 "2004-04-07T16:57:32Z")
> [@Happy Lendervedder](#): > > I’ve used it in writing before, never spoken though. > I think it has a certain poetic je-ne-sais-quois. > > Next up in the Pit: people who use the phrase “je ne sais quois.” And then, after that, people who misspell pretentious phrases like “je ne sais quoi.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Revtim](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/revtim/32/1042_2.png) [@Revtim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Revtim)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/29 "2004-04-07T17:28:19Z")
> [@Susie Derkins](#): > > BTW, “methinks” is one that gets under my skin like scabies. Anyone who types, or god forbid, actual speaks the word “methinks” deserves physical punishment IMO. ---
**Author:** ![GaWd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/f08c70/32.png) [@GaWd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GaWd)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 5:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/30 "2004-04-07T17:30:37Z")
All this attention for “whilst” and none for “erstwhile”? Meanwhile, erstwhile gets more and more jealous… Sam ---
**Author:** ![Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ac8455/32.png) [@Bippy\_the\_Beardless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bippy_the_Beardless)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 6:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/31 "2004-04-07T18:04:17Z")
> [@JohnT](#): > > Ergo? Please don’t stop me using ergo, I cannot spell therefore correctly consistantly. ---
**Author:** ![tremorviolet](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e47774/32.png) [@tremorviolet](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tremorviolet)\ **Post date:** [April 7, 2004, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/32 "2004-04-07T18:24:17Z")
> [@GaWd](#): > > All this attention for “whilst” and none for “erstwhile”? > > Meanwhile, erstwhile gets more and more jealous… > > Sam My dad used this all the time when I was growing up. He used it to mean “ne’er-do-well” as in “your erstwhile brother”. It finally occurred to me to look it up and imagine my surprise when I discovered that it actually meant “former”… ---
**Author:** ![Ephemera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/8baadc/32.png) [@Ephemera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ephemera)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 12:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/33 "2004-04-08T00:25:29Z")
> [@Revtim](#): > > Anyone who types, or god forbid, actual speaks the word “methinks” deserves physical punishment IMO. Methinks the poster doth protest too much. ---
**Author:** ![Freiheit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/e8c25b/32.png) [@Freiheit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freiheit)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 12:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/34 "2004-04-08T00:32:02Z")
Even worse, IMO, for Britishism used by pretentious people: Maths AAARRRGGG ---
**Author:** ![dwyr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dwyr/32/363_2.png) [@dwyr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwyr)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 12:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/35 "2004-04-08T00:56:25Z")
No wonder nobody reads my posts. ☹☹☹☹☹☹☹ ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 1:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/36 "2004-04-08T01:05:17Z")
You know, I think you could take the words objected to in this thread, and use them to reconstruct almost any post I’ve ever made here. ---
**Author:** ![minor7flat5](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/minor7flat5/32/258_2.png) [@minor7flat5](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/minor7flat5)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/37 "2004-04-08T01:19:56Z")
Does “whilst” really have the same pretentious feel to it in the UK as it does in the USA? When I hear Brits say it, it just sounds like part of the rest of the lingo: “Whilst I was putting the body in the boot…” ---
**Author:** ![Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/spectre_of_pithecanthropus/32/12343_2.png) [@Spectre\_of\_Pithecanthropus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 2:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/38 "2004-04-08T14:43:28Z")
_Whilst_ doesn’t strike me as pretentious at all–rather just a bit old fashioned. I’ve always wondered about it because, for the most part, it’s American English that has tended to retain archaisms like _gotten_ and the present third person subjunctive. _Maths_ doesn’t strike me as pretentions either, only different. Also a bit harder to pronounce. Damn those fricative clusters. ---
**Author:** ![kambuckta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@kambuckta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kambuckta)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/39 "2004-04-08T14:57:17Z")
> [@Smeghead](#): > > Every now and then, I LIKE to sound pretentious. Dude. That is the best explanation AND the funniest thing I have seen/heard in yonks **Smeghead**. Bravo. Dude. 😃😃😃 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [April 8, 2004, 3:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681/40 "2004-04-08T15:15:32Z")
What’s your position on ‘perchance’? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whilst-should-be-fucking-banned/238681.md?page=3)