Comments on: Among/Amongst: Is there a Difference?

By: William Hooper

William Hooper — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 17:57:03 +0000

Mark Stewart’s comment above nailed it. (April 12, 2008 6:35 pm)

I couldn’t state it any better. “Amongst” and “whilst” are fine for our British and Australian brothers but for an American to use these words sounds affected. (If any American politician uttered these words he would lose votes.) Perhaps it’s irrational and unfair but “amongst” and “whilst” have the effect of pretentiousness. To my American compatriots don’t go there!

By: RW McCoy

RW McCoy — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 15:12:21 +0000

I only stumbled on this one today as I was editing some questions and answers for a friend. The sentence, ‘She is also popular among other celebrities.’ instantly grated on my sense of good English, but the problem wasn’t grammar. It was me.
As a Canadian, I wasn’t even aware that ‘amongst’ was supposedly British English. Actually, it is widely used in Canada and is probably common in most Commonwealth countries.
Personally, I am in the OED camp with the idea of ‘amongst’ being dispersed or intermixed. I also suspect, I prefer to use ‘among’ at the beginning of a sentence and ‘amongst’ elsewhere.
In the mean time, I will be on my guard of correcting others.

By: carolyn Swanson

carolyn Swanson — Mon, 21 Nov 2011 19:09:38 +0000

I grew up in the southern state of Arkansas. “er” was always substituted for “a” among those who were uneducated. For instance. My sister’s name is Eula and many family member called her Euler. Indiana was Indianer. My father went to live in Indianer.
they also put the “st” on words like among. Idea was ider. I have no ider where she is. Orkra was orkrie. Go pick some orkie for dinner. Soda water was sodie water. Want was wont. Do you wont a bottle of sodie water. Fellow is feller. Who was that feller out yonder.

By: Kevin Beach

Kevin Beach — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 00:59:39 +0000

For no authoritative reason, I have always thought that(in BrE at least), “among” referred to something or someone being with things of a different kind, e.g. “cat among the pigeons”, “a giant among dwarves”. However, “amongst” relates to one among a number of the same kind, e.g.”He is a giant amongst men”, “Blessed art thou amongst women”.

By: Diane

Diane — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:37:55 +0000

Actually, I grew up in Nova Scotia (Canada), and we always said ‘amongst’, not because we were pompous but because it was our natural way of speaking. My family roots are deep in Nova Scotia and Newfoundland and extent to Scotland, England, Ireland and Germany. When I began writing, I was told I was wrong to use ‘amongst’. Now I know it’s not wrong, just diffent. I use it in my novels because it is ingrained in our dialect, not because it makes me sound pompous.

I also grew up saying spelt, not spelled. I can’t wrap my tongue around two LLs and ED. Spelled still comes out spelt.