Couple of brief language questions

[Sporting]

1) Do any northern English folk still say while to mean until?

2) Is my boy a common way to say my son? And would my girl be a thing?

[ursus arctos]

2 is quite common in USian, though it is also used in a non-parental context.

As you know, 1 is one of the most common mistakes otherwise proficient Romance language speakers make in English

[Sporting]

2 is quite common in USian, though it is also used in a non-parental context

Yes, that context - if we are on the same wavelength - somehow irks me, though I know it's not meant thus in most cases.

[ursus arctos]

It.can be used for "my pal', though the usage that irks me more is one that implies a subservient relationship. There is a certain type of businessperson who will refer to his assistant as " my girl", which is an awful tell.

[Sporting]

the usage that irks me more is one that implies a subservient relationship.

This.

[Capybara]

I certainly use 'while' for 'until'. Probably not so much when I'm down south, but certainly when I go north when I slip more into the vernacular.

[Sporting]

I certainly use 'while' for 'until'. Probably not so much when I'm down south, but certainly when I go north when I slip more into the vernacular.

I first heard this from my mother's second husband, who was from Leeds. I'd never heard it before in my life.

[Capybara]

I don't know how widely across the north it is used.

[DCI Harry Batt]

I sometimes use "while" in the same meaning as "until", but it's clearly an affectation, even if now and again it isn't consciously such.

[Discordant Resonance]

"He didn't know the shops were open again while he read it in the paper"?

[Ginger Yellow]

Must be confusing to be a Northern coder.

[treibeis]

I've never heard 1) (possibly because, in the UK, I've only been north of Birmingham twice). How is it used? "You've got while midnight to pay the ransom, otherwise the hostage dies"?

[Toby Gymshorts]

1) Do any northern English folk still say while to mean until?

I'm from that North and I have never in my life heard that.

[Sporting]

It's more Yorks than Lancashire I think

[Toby Gymshorts]

I am currently taking great umbrage at that Lancashire slight. Pal.

[DCI Harry Batt]

"He didn't know the shops were open again while he read it in the paper"?

I've more often heard it in the "Tuesday while Friday" sense. That how I use it.

[sw2borshch]

Hang on while I wash these few pots then I'll run your messages.

That sort of thing?

[sw2borshch]

Meaning 'wait until I've finished the washing up then...' in case of a lack of clarity.

[Sporting]

My mum's second husband used to say "I won't be home while late".

[Lymeswold Snork]

German uses the same word for "(at the latest) by" as for "until". So I've seen a sign in English in a German hotel, "Rooms must be vacated until 11 a.m.". I'm surprised they don't find it confusing themselves.

[Capybara]

I use it pretty much as described by DCI Harry Batt and sw2borshch .

[Snake Plissken]

Hang on while I wash these few pots then I'll run your messages.

That sort of thing?

This is the only usage I can think of.

[Sits]

Listening to the Stone Roses' Mersey Paradise this morning, there's a line which goes:

I'd push her under while she drowns

On the assumption Ian Brown has murderous intentions towards this unfortunate woman, "while" must be used to mean "until" here or his murderous intentions have been scuppered.

Conspiracist eejit.

[MsD]

Could have been John Squire.

[MsD]

Could have been John, squire.