[teachercreature]

I have noticed in many of the posts from our jingle friends in Britain the use of words like “whilest” and “amongst.” I know these must be contractions for something but for the life me I can’t figure out what. Please educate me.
Happy 2013 to all.

[GrahamCollins]

Hello Mike

As a general rule we Brits traditionally have said whilst and amongst – you chaps in the New World say while and among. However with the gradual Americanisation of our youth, through imported TV, films and music, the boundaries are becoming blurred so you will read and hear all four words in common use over here.

Best wishes for 2013

[ratnobMember]

From your friendly grammar guru:

The ‘-st’ ending on some words is an archaic form that mostly disappeared after the 18th century (in Shakespeare you get things like “why hatest thou me?’ etc).

English English – as opposed to American English – has sometimes retained these forms in formal usage, just as American English has held on to ‘gotten’ where we would say ‘got’. Most style guides now advise using ‘while’ instead of ‘whilst’ and ‘among’ as opposed to ‘amongst’. So, in my own writing, I’ve abandoned the older forms.

Regular readers will know that my background is in English teaching and literacy, as my JAM anthem celebrates:

http://geoffbarton.co.uk/files/_IDs/Nice-Knowing-Geoff.mp3

You did ask!

[teachercreature]

Thanks Mr. B. Would I be correct in assuming that some of these archaic forms show up in the King James version of the Bible?

[ratnobMember]

Yes: the King James Bible of 1611 established English as a legitimate language in its own right (previously Bibles had mostly been in Latin), but it had lots of the archaic forms (eg -eth endings and thou/thy).

Now, back to some jingles, on a not-entirely-unrelated theme:

http://www.bobdinan.co.uk/Blog/Jingle_Podcast/Entries/2012/10/9_Voices_of_Angels.html

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