To point out that it's "etc" not "ect"

[SourdoughSally]

I see this multiple times a day and it makes me wonder if people pronounce it "ekt" when they speak.

&c.

The vast majority of people don't do Latin at school!

Someone above said it ought to be obvious because it's short for et cetera.

But first, not everybody knows it's short for et cetera. I only learnt that as an adult. When I was a child, I heard people say "et cetera" out loud but would probably have assumed it was spelt "excetera" because the t is very weakly pronounced. I think some people assume it is "Ec[k] Cetera" which would make more sense to shorten to ect than etc.

Secondly, even if you know that it is correctly et cetera, the letters ect are also in order in that phrase. People may be thinking "Et Ce Tera".

I have always spelt it correctly as far as I know, but I was a big reader and so spelling comes easily to me, I am more likely to get the spelling than the pronunciation right for lots of words. To me, ect just looks wrong so I would automatically correct it, but it is possible that people get it wrong because they are overthinking it, rather than that they are underthinking it.

I also just think it's snobbish and rude to look down on people because they don't happen to have the same abilities or lfie experiences as you. I don't know the correct spelling of etc because I have some kind of superior intelligence/knowledge, I just happen to find it really easy to memorise and store the spellings of words to the point I don't even really have to think about it.

true, i guess it can then depend on the context, but then if there is ambiguity you could then dissect a persons points by point till you understand their full point, at least at times thats what i prefer to do, but sometimes i do assume

YABU to point it out because that should be common knowledge

The vast majority of people don't do Latin at school!

Their loss. It's probably one of the most useful subjects I did at school.

I have written computer code for the better part of half a century.

If you are vague, ambiguous or unclear, you either have a system that won't work, or worse, a system which works in unexpected ways.

That's why "AI" is never going to work. Because those vague "Can you do <x>" for me type of prompts rely far too much on an assumption of shared knowledge. The lack of which the machine is expert at hiding from you with misplaced chattiness.

"Common knowledge" is going to be an ongoing problem now everyone is unable to live without "AI". Remember, "AI" doesn't know what it doesn't know.

true but then computer code does need to follow eg like maths it all has to add up correctly and be coded correctly, that said have you heard of kevin mitnick ?, but when its people to people surely as long as both people understand the general context and knowledge of the subject matter being discussed then in theory a fairly good interpretation can be achieved ?

Apologies i did have to ask for this part Ai:

Where the argument breaks
2.1 It assumes AI requires full specification like traditional software
This is the central error.
Large language models are not:

• deterministic compilers
• rule-based systems
• formally specified programs

They are: statistical inference engines trained on large corpora of human language and behaviour This changes the role of ambiguity entirely. Instead of failing outright, they:

• infer likely intent
• interpolate missing constraints
• approximate plausible completions

Ambiguity is not fatal; it is resolved probabilistically, not rejected.

but even before ai whats common to one person is not common to another person, ?

sekkerterry I have heard a few times said by (men) in Manchester/Cheshire
so thought it might be a local aberration

mine is singular used as plural, the BBC regularly guilty of this, i.e.,
‘there’s a lot of’ when grammatically this is impossible

Not at all unreasonable. I have seen E.T.C. which is horrific.

Ambiguity is not fatal; it is resolved probabilistically, not rejected.

And therein lies the problem. Because "AI" will never admit it is wrong, or doesn't know unless you point it out. Now I am not saying all humans would not do the same however we're already seeing it sporadically where "things happen" in such a manner that it's clear the expensive meat-based failsafe has been let go, because ChatGPT is cheaper.

Well exactly. This is where "shared culture" is more than just a phrase to get a grant from an arts body.

fair points

Yes YABU
as someone who has always struggled with grammar and literacy ( back in the day just put on the slow table )

I’ve had a lifetime of superior twats pointing out and correcting grammatical errors and being made to feel stupid

get on with your day and focus on more important things in life

the utter joy people get from correcting people is beyond me tbh I just think they come across as nasty arseholes

This popped up in my FB feed and I thought of this thread.

First time I visited the Parisian Catacombs, there were loads of plaques with just Latin - not French or English translations.

i glanced and then the facebook refreshed itself what was the latin story about please

https://newsroom.bathnes.gov.uk/news/student-brings-spoken-latin-back-roman-baths-new-audio-guide-recorded-sir-stephen-fry

I feel it's worth repeating regularly 😄

Not something to get worked up over. Sit down. Chill out. Have a nice eggspresso.

I know that, but for some insane reason my phone sometimes auto corrects it to ect and I sometimes I don't spot it

I'm too wound up by my eggs husband today

Nobody reads books any more. Sigh. And thus online mistakes proliferate and reproduce, because people read a mistake (ect), think it must be correct because it's what everyone is using and never read actual printed literature where it is correctly used. They never stop to think of the derivation.

personally i still read but i dont usually focus on the grammer, as long as i can generally understand whats being said,

But that's the point. You don't need to concentrate on the grammar but if you are reading you are taking the correct form of words into your mind. If you see 'etc' half a dozen times you are less likely to use 'ect' when you write.