Questions for British Members

[Canadien]

1. Is it correct that the age of consent for sex between males is 16 years in Britain or is this just true for England?

2. Why do Americans and English use different words for the same thing? I am thinking of While and whilst?

[lvdkeyes]

In answer to your second question - We Americans have evolved.

[Marigar]

The answer to your first question is that the age for sex in the UK is 16 for straight and gay.

[lukylok]

In answer to your second question - We Americans have evolved.

But you should not be proud of what you have done !

[ceejay]

In answer to your second question - We Americans have evolved.

Or regressed. "Whilst" is a newer word than "while" and evolved from it.

[lvdkeyes]

From Wikipedia:

"Whilst

In standard British English and Australian English, whilst, as a conjunction, is synonymous with although, whereas, but or while. Unlike whilst, while is also used as a noun (as in “rest for a while”) or a verb (as in “while away the hours”).

The usage of whilst is chiefly British.[4] For example, the BBC World Service website “Learning English”, in their “Ask about English” section, uses the word whilst when explaining the usage of “while and whereas”.[5]

In American English and Canadian English, whilst is considered to be pretentious or archaic.[6][7]

Some publications on both sides of the Atlantic disapprove of whilst in their style guides (along with "amidst" and "amongst"); for example:

Times Online Style Guide: "while (not whilst)"[8]
Guardian Style Guide: "while not whilst"[9]
Hansard: the Canadian Parliament record: "while not whilst"[10]"

[windwalker]

Although I have seen the word whilst in written form I can't recall ever hearing someone use it in speech. Comments?