Noticed a trend recently of universally substituting "whilst" for "while;" this seems to be spreading as a sort of "in" thing to do. That's fine, people can obviously post however they like, but in my personal opinion it kind of makes us all sound like a bunch of nimrods.
Even when done correctly (the substitution cannot be properly made in all cases), the word "whilst" is antiquated and generally better off put out to pasture. Using it once in a great while, for effect, would be useful and dramatic; using it universally is like saying "I agree with thy point, but thou are full of fail!" In short, it lacks the desired effect.
Doubtless this post will prompt a huge series of links to lamedictionaryofonlinetwaddle.com "proving" that it's correct usage, but, trust me, thou still soundeth silly.
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I think it depends on where you're from. In my neck of the woods (Alaska) people (especially older folk) still say--
whilst
repast
fortnight
Also, people still use (especially older folk, again) various -t endings as opposed to -ed endings, such as--
dreamt
burnt
leant
smelt
amongst
Alaskans also, almost invariably, use or contract 'have' when speaking in the present perfect, which most American's have dropped in common usage.
Also, there's no difference in the use of while and whilst--they are equally correct conjunctions.
I think it depends on where you're from. In my neck of the woods (Alaska) people (especially older folk) still say--whilst, repast, fortnight, etc.
People in South Carolina say "y'all" to refer to a single person, "all y'all" for more than one person, and "y'allses" as a possessive. I generally prefer not to post that way, despite having lived there, but any real hard-core Carolianans can of course post that way and be proud of their vernacular as a way of showing pride in their heritage... but part of the main point above is that it would be exceptionally silly for other people to emulate them, trying to sound "hip" and "with it" by adopting those colloquilisms.
For those claiming use of "whilst" as an appropriate "Britishism" (much as many Americans, for reasons of personal preference or possibly sheer perversity, insist in using the British spelling "grey" for "gray"), the London Times style guide succinctly states, "while (not wilst)," giving no option for correct usage of the latter. The Guardian does likewise.
eh I use y'all and u'ens and many other woulds thata make ya cringe. My mangaling of the English lang is a thing of beauty and annoys many a folk
cant say i have used whilist, doth i have among other thangs