For the love of God, everybody it's etc for et cetera. Not ECT

I quite often write &c on my own notes.

For all intensive purposes, we should of done it years ago.

Cetera
I've tried again to post it but it doesn't show the definition for some reason. It will be visible from the url link above, I hope!

The first couple of online dictionaries I tried didn't have it: they showed it as cetera (plural of ceterus) meaning the others or the rest, plus et meaning and:
https://www.latin-dictionary.net/search/latin/cetera
This one cited Oxford Latin Dictionary, 1982 (OLD).

The etymological dictionary:
https://www.etymonline.com
"also etcetera, early 15c., from Latin et cetera, literally "and the others," from et "and" + neuter plural of ceterus "the other, other part, that which remains," from Proto-Italic ke-etero‑, from ke-, variant form of PIE root ko-, the stem of demonstrative pronoun meaning "this" + *etero‑ "other (of two), again, a second time, again," a PIE adjective of comparison.
The common form of the abbreviation before 20c. was &c., but etc. now prevails."

Not giving up,since the poster was adamant, I thought I'd try an Italian etymological dictionary: https://etimo.it/:
and rather wonderful to behold, Eccolo! / Here it is!
" Cetera

Necessary is one collar two sleeves 😉

My current biggest bugbear is people mixing up 'of' with 'for' 😬 Just seen it written wrongly on the TV guide ffs!

No, you’re right, I am not an English teacher! (?) but yes, I am aware of the type of little sayings you are asking about.

What I meant was that in this case, I couldn’t really envision how something like that would help, given that you already understand the difference in meaning and context between the words. The issue almost sounds more like a disconnect between spelling and pronunciation? So although the pp’s little saying about “don’t lose your loose change” is clever, if you struggle with these words, won’t you still end up hesitating over whether it’s “don’t loose your lose change”?

Never eat cream except Saturdays and Sundays
I struggle with occasion. Never quite sure it shouldn't have another I and/or s.

Can you relate them to the pronunciation that you are presumably familiar with?

We say I don't want to lose you (pronounced looze, similar to booze.)

Since I've lost weight my trousers are so loose (pronounced luce, similar sound to juice) they are hanging off me.

Does the above make the difference clearer or do you find it just as confusing?

I take it you're not an English teacher 🤭.
Common spelling mistakes sometimes come with a handy ,helpful little rhyme to help you remember rules - such as i before an e , except after c even though there's loads of exceptions to this rule.

Someone has helpfully already provided one for me - you don't want to lose your loose change - that's something I will remember and it would have been helpful to have known this sooner 😖.

This is absolutely perfect 🤗 thank you so much. This embarrassingly is life-changing, I'm not exaggerating 😳.

And while we’re discussing our own bogey words, millennium has far too many letters imho.

We were taught (for necessary) 1 coat, 2 socks.

Also, professor - 1 frock, 2 socks.

edited to add: when I’m tired, I have to really concentrate on there, their, they’re.

separate - like karate

I can hardly ever remember manouvere or restaurant. I remember the latter by thinking the annoyed diner would RANT if their meal was bad (I always spelled it restaraunt otherwise!). Like there's A RAT in separate.

Yes, but don’t you think that if someone points out a mistake, they should actually highlight the correct form rather than another common mistake, “etc.” instead of “etc”? Otherwise, they’re just perpetuating another incorrect version.

I don’t mind being corrected. On Mumsnet, though, it’s rarely a genuine correction - it’s usually followed by loads of laughing faces and turns into a pile on. I’ve seen it happen many times, which is why the OP encouraging this behaviour (while having terrible punctuation herself) is so ironic.

I make plenty of mistakes, so I know I’m not perfect. It makes far more sense to polish my own writing before trying to “educate” others - as was so patronisingly put by the OP.

God, I’m far too invested in this thread 😂. Bloody wannabe pedants drive me mad!

YABU because it is not etc, it is etc. with a full stop.

If you're going to be a pedant, you do need to be right.

How can people not know this?

I see a lot of the errors mentioned on this thread in professional emails though. Things like affect/effect, loose/lose, advise/advice, averse/adverse as well as ECT. These are words which you would expect to be in the vocabulary of a reasonably educated person. Misusing standard words or terms does give the impression that someone is poorly educated or lacks basic literacy.

I agree I have family members who are ferociously bright but have hideous spelling due to dyslexia and it upsets me a lot to think they may feel deterred from posting on here

Ok. I agree. Emphasis on the PER.

I know exactly how it should be typed but for some reason my computer and phone autocorrect to ect!

I have disabilities in my hands and so struggle with pain when typing and although the pedant in me would like to correct it sometimes I just can't face it

My grandad used to say “you don’t want to lose your loose change” not sure if that’s helpful, but it’s how it stuck for me!

😆😆😆

I’d say it’s more like high - PER - bol - ee - to get the emphasis on the correct syllable. Or chuck it into google and it’ll show you the correct pronunciation.

I also thought Penelope was ‘pen - ee - lope’ when I was a kid but managed to work it out before saying it out loud - phew.

Hyper-bolee