AIBU to say it's not "ect"

[IceCreamWoes]

I've seen about 8 threads in the last 2 days with posters writing ect when they obviously mean etc. I probably am being U but it really does irrationally fucking irritate me!

I need to get out more, yes. I've had two (big) glasses of wine 😂.

So, am I?

I don’t know you well enough

I'm always quoting "wallah" to my eldest daughter who is doing brilliantly at learning French in year 8 now. She's probably as fluent at it as I was when I spoke it at GCSE level - maybe even moreso. I think the level of skills taught at her school seems a lot higher. She laughed at me when I told her I loved the spelling of "wallah" as opposed to voila, but I guess if you'd never spoken or learned French then you wouldn't know that it literally means "there you are".

😃😃

😂😂😂🤣🤣
But it would be an ice-breaker!

Pet hates in grammar/misspelled words:

• Bought instead of brought (and vice versa);
• Ect instead of et cetera;
• We're/where/were and their misuse;
• There/their/they're and wrong use of each;
• Your instead of you're (a huge bugbear).

I wasn't being unkind when I made this thread, to those of you that thought that was my aim. I wouldn't correct someone's errors in response to a thread they started with ect in so I made my own.

I like being corrected (and there are some on here I definitely use and won't in the future now!).

I don't think adverbs were ever properly explained to me before my mother-in-law pulled me up on it about 15 years ago and I was pleased she did. I don't want to sound like an idiot but these things pass us by or we forget, or become influenced by language from loads of sources (friends, social media etc). My sibling was thankful I explained bought/brought to them. Same for the I/me debate when it was explained to me in an easy to understand way.

I think language can annoy the fuck out of you when used badly/incorrectly but that in itself doesn't make you an arsehole.

Usually it's because people don't know they are using the wrong word or grammar. I think it depends if you're someone who wants to improve the way you communicate. I can see the other side though, if you're embarrassed about your written communication or defensive about your education, then most likely you'll not take the correction in the spirit it was intended.

I've enjoyed understanding what frustrates others, and I've learnt a lot. Glad my half bottle of wine last night made me start this thread!

I agree with @CLEO42 about the "off of". It drives me mad. I don't know whether or not it is a regional thing because I never heard in when I lived in NW England, but I hear it regularly in the SW.

"I heard it off of YouTube", was a particularly irritating response.

My mum used to talk about should/shall and would/will: should/shall being used for the first person singular or plural and would/will for 2nd and 3rd person singular or plural. For example, should I take this out? Would you take this out? Could anyone please clarify that one. Also, please add me to the list of Latin students of the Caecilius/Metella scheme.

Still intrigued as to why you knew bought/brought but your sibling didn’t. Did your parents know the difference?

There was a while that was a MN glitch, so there would be paragraphs in the browser but not the app or vice versa (can't remember now).

I am really not sure, I suspect my dad did (past tense as he is dead) and my mum doesn't.

We went to very different schools; I was much more academic generally and a real book worm (as was my dad) and my sibling is much more creative and the dyslexia meant they didn't read any books until well into their 30s. Maybe our grammar understanding is more related to our reading habits. Also, like others, I did Latin at school. That seems to be a theme!

But I'm not an expert in grammar (clearly, as I've said above, I've been corrected often in my adult life and welcome it).

General discussions about SPAG are fine and quite informative. A snarky discussion pointing the finger at some users mistakes on MN makes you an arsehole. IMO.

As far as I can tell, "excited" is a status you can choose in Facebook, "looking forward to" is not.

I have such fond memories of my TEFL teacher 🙂

I think it is quite simple to learn because there are so few rules and so few exceptions to the rules. There are quirks, but nothing complicated. (I am not minimising how difficult it is to teach, which I would be incapable of doing.)
Isn't its simplicity one of the reasons it is spoken all over the world? French had a head start as the international diplomatic language but its lack of simplicity means it is mostly ornamental now.

Your student's example is diabolical! When the original language has latin or germanic roots, or indeed, is English at least there are points of comparison to help explain and retain variations. Not nearly as challenging as learning - or teaching - starting from different alphabets, etymologies, grammatical constructions or style references? I think that's a real achievement 😅

I annoy myself😆by adding capitals and punctuation to texts, but I will admit to speaking very lazily...🤓

IMO it's a worse crime to get I and me wrong "the other way around", saying I every time because you think it's posher.

Look at this horrifying information:
https://yougov.co.uk/topics/society/survey-results/daily/2024/06/17/16b1f/3

What is
wrong with people?

I think it is quite simple to learn because there are so few rules and so few exceptions to the rules.

Sorry, are you talking about English?

Speaking of word crimes, this is clever and funny. (Sorry there might be an ad to skip before you can see the video.)

Yes I am @ErrolTheDragon IF you compare it to most other European languages. It's relatively easy language to learn and speak for someone whose original language has similar latin or germanic roots.
But I agree with @Abitofalark that it needs agility and subtlety to be mastered.

Ditto e.g. the ‘between you and I’ thing, which some people evidently think is more ‘correct’.
Turn it around, to ‘between I and you’, and it’s obvious that it’s wrong - it should be ‘between you and me…’

Hahaha! Yes!! I am a fool who temporarily failed to remember the difference between a real word and a mode of transport!
I am suitably mortified and of course, will accept all reprimands due.

QuiMoi, While we agree me to some extent at least, I would respectfully disagree with your characterisation of English as having few exceptions to the rules. English is full of irregularities, anomalies and exceptions, as well as endless nuance and subtle distinctions that are difficult to grasp or even explain.

Some are the result of being made up of words from different languages (the everyday verb 'to go', is an example where you get the wildly different form 'went' for the past tense and 'gone' for the past participle), and some from the development of usage over time but the precise origin of many remains obscure. A language with a complex structure is less confusing and perhaps easier to learn and use, provided it has greater regularity in its rules and forms.

Good grief; 78% of people who are sufficiently interested in grammar to answer the question didn't know the correct answer!

@Abitofalark I can only talk of what I know: English is the easiest of all the languages I've learned. Perhaps I was lucky enough to have very good teachers, good teachers make everything easy.

I don't take my clothes of for just anyone!