I have really had it with "nil"

Several years back, there was an NHL trade between Detroit and Winnipeg. The local hed read: Wings Get Nill For Kumpel.

A buddy of mine was upset, said he thought Mark Kumpel was at least worth getting a draft pick or a prospect.

Of course, it was (current Wings assistant GM) Jim Nill headed to Motown.

Nill is OK by me

 

After looking at Merriam-Webster online, "nil" is fine by me ...

Main Entry: nil
Pronunciation: 'nil
Function: noun
Etymology: Latin, nothing, contraction of nihil, from Old Latin nihilum, from ne- not + hilum trifle -- more at NO
: NOTHING, ZERO
- nil adjective

 

I would gladly go through an Eliza Doolittle-esque training program to speak that way if it meant owning an Aston Martin.

 

Dooley, how in the HELL is "love" a technical term, if "nil" isn't??? Yes, we use love, but it describes the state of having nothing, having zero points. Just because the french think a zero looks like an egg doesn't mean it's a technical term. But in your mind it's more established, so we have to use it?


Now, I'm gonna go slap myself a few times for even participating in this asinine discussion.

 

Tex: The linejudges in tennis use "love" and "deuce". They don't get to say "zero" or "40-40". It's an official term. "Nil" is not an official term but a colloquialism used by the British to denote "zero" — a Google search indicates they will use it in rugby, as well.

But even if you think "nil" and all synonyms of "zero" are valid, the point the poster made is that the people here who use it are doing so in a vain effort to subsume what they think is cool and co-opt it for their own trendiness (read: posers). See also: Me-HI-co. See also: Ole Ole Ole Ole chants at Shea Stadium. See also: Stuart Scottization of local sportscasts.

 

Meat, I've got it. Thanks. My reading comprehension is much better ever since I did those hooked on phonics tapes back in 2003. But don't those tennis linejudges use "love" because it's become tennis' little pet term? It has no deeper syntactical value than "nil." Deuce isn't a part of this argument, at least not for anyone with a brain. "Deuce" describes a situation specific to tennis.

 

My final take, then I'm out. If you wanna use "nil" to denote nothing or zero, that's fine. But my reporters ain't getting it into their copy. And anybody not using "nil" is not violating some rule, and doesn't have to feel like a rube. If you choose not to use "love" in tennis, you are ignoring part of the sport's scoring system. It'd be even siller than using the term "four-run homer" in baseball.

Anybody wanna debate these in soccer copy?:
--Tie vs. draw.
--Match vs. game.

 

I'd say tie/draw are okay for one another. I prefer tie, but I'm not going to commit Harry Caray over draw. Ditto match/game; all the high school people here use "match", and I had assumed that international soccer used match or the foreign equivalent of it, but I'm also hearing a lot more "game" in ABC/ESPN coverage. Maybe that just proves the point for "match".

 

Uh, you asked what made it a technical term. The fact that judges use it and it's in the rulebook makes it a techincal term. If you want to debate the semiotics and evolution of terms like love and deuce (and for that matter, grand slam), that's one thing. But the here and now says that love and deuce ARE technical terms and nil isn't. If FIFA ever makes nil the official word to use for zero, then so be it.

 

Exactly. I'd certainly hate to replace zero with nil, because then we'd lose Rikki Lake phrases like "You need to drop that zero and get yourself a hero."

If we were British it'd become "You need to drop that nil and get yourself a pill (hill, schill, bill, etc.)."

 

How about field vs. pitch?

 

Using pitch is fine, using field doesn't make you a rube.