[net.nlang] The Whiles of Yorkshire

drg@rlvd.UUCP (Duncan Gibson) (05/03/85)

In <395@tymix.UUCP> Herb Kanner comments on the use of "while" in Yorkshire
to mean "until". The example given "Do not cross while the lights are
flashing" is unusual because it is an imperative, and the dialect "while" is
more commonly used in the ordinary future tense. I don't recall hearing
while used in this way, but I'm not saying that it isn't just unusual. (As
an aside, the semantics are actually wrong as you shouldn't use the level
crossing until the lights have STOPPED flashing, if they are flashing
already!) The sentence "I'm not going out while nine o'clock" shows the more
common form of use.