Nite And Night | WordReference Forums

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You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.You should upgrade or use an alternative browser. nite and night

• Thread starter Thread starter riglos
• Start date Start date May 30, 2006

R

riglos

Senior Member

Argentina - Spanish Hi all! Sometimes I find the word "nite" in place of "night", as in "all nite long", "tonite", etc. I'd like to know whether this is a slang term for "night", or a simplified version of it, or both, or what? I think it is not standard English, but, then again, you are the native speakers. In which contexts would you expect to hear or read this word? Thanks a lot! Mara.- D

deddish

Senior Member

Ontario, Canada English It is the Americanised version of the word. In the UK, Canada, I don't know but am surmising the rest of the mainly English-speaking world, it is "night".

french4beth

Senior Member

Connecticut US-English Yes, Mara, you're right (or is that 'rite'? just kidding). According to The American Heritage Dictionary, 'nite' is informal; according to Merriam Webster On-Line, it's a variant of 'night'. I would say that it's very informal, perhaps on advertisements, never in written correspondence.

Kelly B

Curmodgeratrice

USA English

deddish said: It is the Americanised version of the word. In the UK, Canada, I don't know but am surmising the rest of the mainly English-speaking world, it is "night". Click to expand...

The vast majority of Americans also agree that night is correct, and would not use the spelling nite. It is mostly reserved for cutesy advertising. Blech.

comsci

Senior Member

Taiwan, Vancouver(B.C.) and the Rockies Mandarin, Taiwan When I was in school in Canada, I was explicitly instructed to avoid using these shortened formes whenever possible without having consequences of marks being taken off from your paper. People get lazy these days but when I come across shortened words like "nite", "thru" and all those mentioned above, I would give a second thought before attempting them. The bottom line is: Standard English forms should be something that we all strive for. M

moirag

Senior Member

Spain English, England It is not considered correct in Britain, and is probably much less common than in the US/ North America ( since we seem to have a bit of a Canada/US- thing going on here),however I must say that I´m now 49 and have seen terms like "nite" since I wasa teenager. It´s not accepted, but I doubt it is in the States, either. And, yeh, it´s adverts where you see it. D

deddish

Senior Member

Ontario, Canada English Yon, I'd have to agree- I've known people who would never even fathom the possibility of spelling the word as "night", even in school. Of course, they're all my age and younger and were met on the Internet, so that might not be a majority. moirag: The Canada/US thing is going on because it's accepted in America and not Canada, quite simply put And I do not like "X-mas" either. Actually, it took me quite awhile to figure out what it was supposed to mean, and by that point it's easier to just write Christmas. M

mjscott

Senior Member

Pacific Northwest, USA American English Welcome to the forum powel212! maxiogee- I was not aware of that fact of which you speak. CS Lewis wrote a disparaging essay concerning Xmas. I try and write it out when not in a hurry. As an educator, it is hard not to be frustrated when you see nite more often in cutesy advertisements than night written in print! Rite is rite Thru and thru, Both day and nite Not good 4-u.... M

mplsray

Senior Member

Minneapolis, Minnesota USA English, USA

comsci said: When I was in school in Canada, I was explicitly instructed to avoid using these shortened formes whenever possible without having consequences of marks being taken off from your paper. People get lazy these days but when I come across shortened words like "nite", "thru" and all those mentioned above, I would give a second thought before attempting them. The bottom line is: Standard English forms should be something that we all strive for. Click to expand...

Nite, lite, thru, and tho are spellings that were officially recommended by spelling reformers such as the Simplified Spelling Board around the turn of the 20th century, and they were used by the Chicago Tribune newspaper for many years. They don't get much use in edited writing today--the Tribune, among others, has dropped its advocacy of spelling reform--with a couple of exceptions: Lite is often used to distinguish products containing low fat or low sugar, and in an extended use of that, is used to indicate something which lacks seriousness: An example cited by the Merriam-Webster Online Dictionary is "it is film noir lite." Thruway (built upon thru, obviously) is part of the official name of the New York State Thruway Authority and its Thruway Regional Advisory Network System. The online MW dictionary doesn't even list throughway as a possible alternative (although their unabridged dictionary has it) so the shortened version must be considered standard usage.

dov

Senior Member

French Marilyn monroe used both of these forms in her notes "Night of the nite Soothing Darkness Refreshes Air Seems different Night has no eyes nor no one Silence Except for the night itself."​ is there any nuance of signification in this case or is it just a careless mistake, just as when she wrote "stair" instead of "stare" ?

loggats

Member

Malta British English

dov said: Marilyn monroe used both of these forms in her notes "Night of the nite Soothing Darkness Refreshes Air Seems different Night has no eyes nor no one Silence Except for the night itself." ​ is there any nuance of signification in this case or is it just a careless mistake, just as when she wrote "stair" instead of "stare" ? Click to expand...

I imagine she was too hopped up on amphetamines to really care about the difference. Is that a poem written by Marilyn Monroe? It's quite sweet.

PaulQ

Senior Member

UK English - England See post #9 above. It's not a mistake. L

lucas-sp

Senior Member

English - Californian It's actually very interesting and evocative here, because "nite" has connotations that differ from "night." "Nite," as the previous posts explain, is a peculiarly American term and smacks of advertising, neon signs, cheap eats and entertainment. When I read "night of the nite," I get the wonderful image of the darkness hiding right behind the bright lights of an American city night, like a "dark night of the American (nocturnal) soul," of the moment when the party ends and you have to step out, alone, into the true blackness that was hiding all around it and that your revelry attempted to hold at bay. There's that second of true loneliness and alienation when you leave the bar and realize that there just aren't any taxis that will stop for you anymore - that, to me, seems like a "night of the nite." I can certainly sympathize! (The fact that this play on "night of the nite" is only possible in written English is, I suppose, one reason why writing is better than speech...)

dov

Senior Member

French very interesting!! << French deleted, except for this --->> merci Last edited by a moderator: Jun 25, 2012

dov

Senior Member

French very interesting!! (only here can we learn about such details), thank you A

Anna Jae

New Member

English "NITE" is indeed slang or using and variation replacing -IGHT endings with -ITE. And yes is is for advertizing media--but not to be "cute." In advertizing and the like sometimes for the word to look aesthetically appealing the 4-letter variation is preferred. Likewise if the letters in the ad are lower case removing the "g" offers balance. This concept took me a looong time to accept because I like to be grammatically correct but in Ad Design grammar rules are often dismissed for visual appearance, time and cost (yes the extra ink has bulk costs). S

Siddhartha Sarma

New Member

Telegu What about in the case of celebratory events or just social gatherings? For example is it Bingo Night or Bingo Nite at the Senior Citizens Center?

DonnyB

Moderator Emeritus

Coventry, UK English UK Southern Standard English I'd say that, in the UK at least, we generally still stick to the traditional spelling and do it as Bingo Night or Quiz Night. But it wouldn't surprise me to see it as "Quiz Nite", adopting the principle of cutesy advertising that previous posts have mentioned. Oh, and welcome to the forum! You must log in or register to reply here. Share: Bluesky LinkedIn WhatsApp Email Share Link

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