Active discussions

Please or to access all these features

Talk
AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

To not understand ect?

146 replies

GretaGip · 17/02/2024 17:02

It just doesn't make sense.

I'm baffled.

^How^ are people pronouncing it to think this makes sense?

OP posts:
TwelveKeys · 17/02/2024 21:27

unnumber · 17/02/2024 20:58

Here is a great discussion of the issue, OP - why people say excetera and expresso, and how F Scott Fitzgerald used ect in his correspondence

https://www.merriam-webster.com/word-matters-podcast/episode-88-the-unexplainable-popularity-of-inexplicable-and-ect-for-etc

Emily Brewster: There are no words in either French or English that begin with E-T, except for et cetera.

Have I misunderstood this, or is it a joke/sarcasm?

Etch, etymology, ether, ethos...

TwelveKeys · 17/02/2024 21:19

I sort of group "ect" with "Micheal" - it seems more likely that you get c-h-e-a in a sequence rather than the correct c-h-a-e so people default to what they think they know.

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 17/02/2024 21:13

ColleenDonaghy · 17/02/2024 21:04

This statement betrays a really poor understanding of statistics. The vast majority of people are clustered around the mean, and a few IQ points has no discernable impact on intelligence.

Really it's more like two thirds of the population have average intelligence, one sixth greater than average and one sixth less than average.

Show quote history

I think what is shows is that people who know perfectly well what’s correct sometimes fuck about and deliberately get things wrong - like “ect” - just for fun. See “flat earthers” for more.

AIstolemylunch · 17/02/2024 21:11

I agree with you but nothing is worse than Chester draws for sale on FB marketplace 😁

Loose for lose baffles me too. It's a completely different pronunciation and the people using it must know the worse loose as in my belt is loose so how do they think that is spelt if they use loose for lose? And when they have lost something why haven't they loost it?

FuckoffeeBeforeCoffee · 17/02/2024 21:07

My absolute favourite thing about this thread are the posters explaining OPs point as if OP doesn't already get it...

chiwwy · 17/02/2024 21:05

GretaGip · 17/02/2024 17:19

I'm not baffled about what it means, I'm confused how that constriction is derived from the pronunciation.

A couple of posters have enlightened me that some folk may be pronouncing it differently than I do.

So that's all good.

Show quote history

Do you mean contraction rather than constriction? Poor grammar, OP, tch tch.

ColleenDonaghy · 17/02/2024 21:04

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 17/02/2024 21:00

Remember, half the population are below average intelligence

This statement betrays a really poor understanding of statistics. The vast majority of people are clustered around the mean, and a few IQ points has no discernable impact on intelligence.

Really it's more like two thirds of the population have average intelligence, one sixth greater than average and one sixth less than average.

unnumber · 17/02/2024 21:01

Riapia · 17/02/2024 19:02

I see posters that use ‘gonna’ in their posts on here. Actually written down.

'Gonna' is for formal usage.

It's all 'Imma' I'm seeing in my correspondence these days.

(Most interesting)

brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr · 17/02/2024 21:00

Remember, half the population are below average intelligence

ColleenDonaghy · 17/02/2024 20:57

Riapia · 17/02/2024 19:02

I see posters that use ‘gonna’ in their posts on here. Actually written down.

Why on earth wouldn't people use gonna on a chat forum?

unnumber · 17/02/2024 20:55

People who read mostly in one language will learn to predict that letters will likely appear in particular combinations and orders. This makes their reading more efficient.

They will therefore tend to miss the fact that letters are grouped in a less familiar order, and to write them in an order more likely to be seen in their native language.

Hence ect.

The fact that ect would indeed be a reasonable abbreviation of et cetera probably doesn't help.

ColleenDonaghy · 17/02/2024 20:52

I wrote ect as a child/early teen. I pronounce it correctly but thought the t in the abbreviation was the t in cetera rather than the t in et.

therealcookiemonster · 17/02/2024 20:44

came on here expecting a thread about electroconvulsive therapy ...

disappointed...

Ilovemyshed · 17/02/2024 20:03

tutttutt · 17/02/2024 19:40

@Ilovemyshed
It's not ECT, it's ETC.

Short for Et Cetera. Latin translation "et" = "and", "cetera" = "the rest".

Pronounciation: Ett Set Erra

Pretty sure the OP knows this. That's why she posted.

Do you always explain the obvious?

Given that so many people on this thread seem to not understand it, yes.

Papillon23 · 17/02/2024 19:44

Terfosaurus · 17/02/2024 17:23

For years I thought it was 'eksetra' and didn't understand why people shortened it incorrectly to etc.
Then realised I was the one who had been wrong my whole life. I was probably 13 at the time.

Yup same, no idea how I thought it was spelt.

LegoDeathTrap · 17/02/2024 19:43

Same people who say “expresso” 🤮🤮🤮

ColumboTheBestDetective · 17/02/2024 19:42

Snowsp · 17/02/2024 17:06

Some people are dyslexic. Hth

My DS is very dyslexic, but even he knows it's 'etc'! In fact he gets really annoyed that people use dyslexia as an excuse for not knowing 'easy to learn' acronyms! (But he's very determined he's right, so...)

tutttutt · 17/02/2024 19:40

@Ilovemyshed
It's not ECT, it's ETC.

Short for Et Cetera. Latin translation "et" = "and", "cetera" = "the rest".

Pronounciation: Ett Set Erra

Pretty sure the OP knows this. That's why she posted.

Do you always explain the obvious?

SOxon · 17/02/2024 19:29

to whoever appreciated my offering earlier, thank you,
life can be dark and joyless, ect ect ect

Kattenburg · 17/02/2024 19:28

Jeannne92 · 17/02/2024 17:23

In France and Spain people write ect as the abbreviation for Et CeTera.

No it's etc. in France too. It's etc. everywhere in the world because as you've pointed out, it's the abbreviation of 'et cetera', or 'et caetera'.

Anyone half-sane understands ect to mean etc, 'eksetra' to mean etc.
Etc, etc,.etc.

the king and i GIF by dani
shoppingshamed · 17/02/2024 19:24

Zanatdy · 17/02/2024 17:24

It’s a typo obviously as no-one pronounces it that way

It's not a typo, people really think that's what the abbreviation is, it's all over the internet

Either they were never taught the correct thing or they were and didn't learn it for whatever reason

Sophist · 17/02/2024 19:22

Molesworth fans.

MrTiddlesTheCat · 17/02/2024 19:20

SnowyPetals · 17/02/2024 17:12

They are probably the same people who pronounce ask as "aks".

My DD is an English academic and she told me that 'aks' is part of a dialect of older English. 'Ask' is the newfangled gibberish apparently.

Swipe left for the next trending thread