Heartland

Can anyone find any reference to this phrase not involving the song?


XidiouX

I once read that it was regional slang somewhere in the U.K., meaning "all day and all night."

Yes, so we've been told. Is anyone able to find a use of this phrase that has nothing to do with the song?


XidiouX

It's a fairly common Yorkshire phrase. "While" is a substitute for "Until"
I've worked at a warehouse where they all worked eight while five. If you are asking for another song referencing it then I don't have one I'm afraid.

Had Dolly been from Yorkshire it would have been working nine while five maybe... I imagine it's similar to the way Americans say 'through' rather than 'to' as in April through July. Something that has always sounded strange a bit to me.

Yeah, i'm from Yorkshire and i've heard people say 'while' to indicate times, it's not as common now, but it does get used

Don't remember where I read it "Nine While Nine is about trains, Trains from south to north, north to south... Nine while nine... that's how the trains go"...

abridged wrote:Had Dolly been from Yorkshire it would have been working nine while five maybe... I imagine it's similar to the way Americans say 'through' rather than 'to' as in April through July. Something that has always sounded strange a bit to me.

Not as cringe worthy as the American "on Christmas" rather than "at"

ribbons69 wrote:It's a fairly common Yorkshire phrase. "While" is a substitute for "Until"
I've worked at a warehouse where they all worked eight while five. If you are asking for another song referencing it then I don't have one I'm afraid.

Also used in parts of Lancashire, a normal use of language for my grandparents for instance.

Unlikely to find a specific alternate us of "nine while nine" I'd have thought as it's not a specific phrase, more just a normal sentence

http://www.dictionary.com/browse/while

Definition 7 seems appropriate:

preposition
7. Archaic. until.

Also: https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/defin ... reposition
Northern English

Until.
'father will be happy while dinner time'[/quote]

Using 'while' instead of 'until' seems perfectly normal to me and yet i find it really bizarre when people say 'in back of' instead of 'behind'
- just depends where you're from and what you're used to!

Yeah, while means until.

I don't know of anyone who's good at interpreting AE lyrics, but I always thought the song was about a guy working in a crap, dead-end job nine while nine and getting nowhere, delusionally believing that one day such a way of life to would lead to success. I routinely worked nine while ten in a London warehouse (for subsistence wages), but I alway knew the situation was s**t.

GLOSSA wrote:Yeah, while means until.

I don't know of anyone who's good at interpreting AE lyrics,

Some of us have a crack at it.....with varying degrees of success.