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

[Moulez]

I know I'm not being unreasonable, but just please agree so that we can educate people,
Without rules, where are we?

It annoys the fuck out of me, I'm such a looser.

I could never buy a caravan or boat from anyone who described the number of sleeping spaces in terms of births. It would literally kill me to sleep in one of them.

You are eminently reasonable! I've been tempted to post about this many times. Some take it even further with "... and ect".😅

I received an email from an angry client yesterday, who berated me for not having the "decent seed" to reply to him sooner. 🙄

It isn't ectetera it's et cetera which abbreviated to etc.

Yes but one could equally say Espana or Italia. It’s inconsequential.

It's Colombia in Spanish and in English. Not Columbia at all.

The “of” in the second paragraph is superfluous, off makes perfect sense without it.
one word that always puzzles me is phase. Or maybe faze. As in “it doesn’t faze me”. I have a vague idea that phase in this context is incorrect but without knowing the roots of the word I’m unsure. And most people write “it doesn’t phase me”. Anyone know the rights of this one?

@PleasantPedantIm quite aware what the accent in Bogotá means, thank you.

In that context it should be faze. A phase is something like a habit or pastime that doesn't last long.

Phase and faze are two completely different words with different meanings.

The confusion is because they sound the same i.e. they are homonyms. Many people hear or say them but do not frequently read them and thus they don’t grasp the difference.

In the case of 'etc.' then you're right, if it's that alone then it's probably insignificant. In terms of spelling and grammar in general though then I disagree. My husband is a very clever man in terms of practical things but his language skills are appalling. At school it seems his teachers decided he was good at sport and ignored him in every other subject. It's never done him any harm in terms of a career but he is very aware that his communication skills - or lack thereof - have quite often led to misunderstandings or made situations more difficult than they needed to be, simply because the way he speaks or writes often does not accurately convey his meaning.

He is also aware that there have been times people have grossly underestimated him because his speech and writing does not reflect his intelligence. He understands why it happens but it makes me feel defensive on his behalf, even though I am someone who does at times judge people on their spelling and grammar. On the other hand, if he were writing on something like a forum and wanted people to understand him clearly then he would make more effort to communicate properly, either by asking someone else to help him (I often have to do this) or by working on his skills. I don't expect everyone to be brilliant at everything but I do expect them to show a bit of initiative at times or don't be too surprised or horrified when others judge. When I see posts with bad spelling or grammar I don't tend to judge that in itself as much as the lack of effort behind it.

@explanationplease , No need to thank me. It sounds different that's all.

I'd think, why did they grind up a flat?

Yeah it is annoying. But it's low down on my pet peeves of that nature. I kind of get it as there are those letters in it, as if they think obviously there's an E, it skips the first T, then you have the C and then the second T?!

God knows why I'm trying to justify it. Haha. But not everyone knows its from the Latin do they?

How about people who put ChatGBT? 😂🥴

I could easily understand that being an autocorrect fail, it happens on my phone all the bastard time . I think you mean birth rather than berth , type of energy, it clearly doesn't recognise many english words 😖.

That’s useful, I always struggle with effect and affect. Thank you.

I absolutely adore your username, very fitting 🤗.

That Salt Path thread! Are they still actually talking about the book/film, I did have a quick look and still haven’t a clue!

It does faze me when people write that it phases them! According to the Online Etymology Dictionary it is from Old English:
"to frighten, alarm, discomfit" (mid-15c.), from Old English fesian, fysian "drive away,… See origin and meaning of faze."

Phase is a stage in a process or development: 'the phases of the moon'. Collins dictionary gives the origin as
"C19: from New Latin phases, pl of phasis, from Greek: aspect; related to Greek phainein to show."

Do you mean draws? ;)

Not really because there are multiple Columbias, mostly in N America and Canada but the only S American country is Colombia.

OK you don’t know.

What do you mean? The correct abbreviation is etc. That is what you asked.

@Rayburn ,what is ectetera?