Why 'ect'?

[Marsalimay]

I find this one a real puzzle, because ect doesn't make sense. Even if you're not familiar with the Latin words you're thinking of the sound "et cetera" in your head. There's no 'ect' sound there at all.

That's because it's actually "etc". You've got the c and t the wrong way round.

I think if you don’t actually know the Latin it’s easy to think it sounds like ‘eck-setera’ rather than ‘et-setera’. But most likely they just don’t think about it - a bit like people who don’t know the difference between ie and eg.

@BigGee

I think you've hit the nail on the head @NiteFlights ! That makes perfect sense. Thank you!

I think OP knows that BigGee

I decided to tackle this with a particular class as it had popped up in written work. I gave them the breakdown, what et cetera means and that etc therefore is a contraction. All good.
At the end of the lesson my head of faculty,who had been sitting in a corner marking work, said "Thanks for that,campion. I've learned about etc -never knew that!"

People mishear it as ecksetera so I guess the c sound comes before the t. Lots of people have no idea what words are supposed to look like written down - the prevalence of he's instead of his is a much more egregious example of this than ect.

@BigGee she knows that, that's the point of this post

Head of what faculty @campion ?! (I was a head of maths in a previous life and loved doing bits of Latin with students).

I think people also hear ess cetera so the first t they hear comes after the first c.

And now it's so commonly wrong on SM people have absorbed that as the usual way of spelling it so it looks right.

Design and Technology. But that's irrelevant as I reckon it should be general knowledge. She also couldn't distinguish between chose and choose which was a tad confusing on documents regarding Yr 9 options.

Spellcheck should pick this up, it does on my iPhone. Etc is okay but ect gets the red dots - presumably some posters just ignore their spell check.

Ah....apologies OP, I took your question literally! I saw it on active posts, and didn't realise which wee corner of the site it was actually on. My misunderstanding.

My Android phone doesn't autocorrect ect.

Eck-settera.

When some people write ect, it is because they are quoting Molesworth.

Yes, pronunciation, not knowing the derivation and the visual error combined. Ect is more frequently seen than etc as a letter pattern I think.

In other words I mean. You see ect in section, protect etc but I can't think of another time we see etc as a pattern.

When some people write ect, it is because they are quoting Molesworth.

I genuinely wish this was the only explanation.

Only some, and getting fewer by the year, but still there.

When some people write ect, it is because they are quoting Molesworth.

Do you really believe this?

Oh I despise "ect". It's like nails on a blackboard!

Nothing like seeing it in old documents abbreviated "&c" or "+c" to make you get your head round the origin.

Eurgh it makes me R-ETC-H when people get it wrong. Retch etc. Geddit? I'll get my coat...

I'm just seeing that on a kitchen notice, along with 'bolling water.

Ecsetera. Some people say asterix for asterisk.

Marsalimay
"When some people write ect, it is because they are quoting Molesworth."
Do you really believe this?

Yes, because not only am I one of them myself, I know at least three others who do so.