# Meaning of "ETA" **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [March 18, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185 "2011-03-18T18:56:51Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Orionizer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/orionizer/32/4442_2.png) [@Orionizer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Orionizer)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/1 "2011-03-18T18:56:51Z")
I’ve seen several posts where someone puts a sentence at the bottom of their post preceeded by “ETA”. For the life of me, I can’t figure out what it’s supposed to mean - can someone clarify? Sorry if this is a stupid question, but I looked through the FAQ’s and Board Usage stuff and can’t find anything to tell me what it means… Thanks! ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/2 "2011-03-18T18:58:33Z")
Edited To Add. ETA: See? ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/3 "2011-03-18T18:58:34Z")
It means “ **E** stimated **T** ime of **A** rrival”. ETA: Just kidding. In the context you describe, it’s “ **E** dited **T** o **A** dd”. ---
**Author:** ![Omega\_Glory](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/7c8e57/32.png) [@Omega\_Glory](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Omega_Glory)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/4 "2011-03-18T18:58:40Z")
Edited To Add (the sentence after the abbreviation). ---
**Author:** ![SeldomSeen](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@SeldomSeen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SeldomSeen)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/5 "2011-03-18T18:59:13Z")
Not a stupid question, it had me puzzled for awhile too. ETA meand “edited to add…” SS **ETA** I see that in the time it took me to type that three others answered the question! ---
**Author:** ![lazybratsche](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/ba8739/32.png) [@lazybratsche](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lazybratsche)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/6 "2011-03-18T18:59:53Z")
Edited to add. It’s not on the faq since it’s a vaguely recent term, since post editing has only been here for a few years now and the faq gets updated maybe once a decade. Basically it’s a postscript of sorts. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Scud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f08c70/32.png) [@Tom\_Scud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Scud)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/7 "2011-03-18T19:01:51Z")
And the reason people us it is in case someone responds to the original post; it lets people see what the respondent might have been responding to. ---
**Author:** ![Duckster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/duckster/32/1244_2.png) [@Duckster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Duckster)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/8 "2011-03-18T19:13:28Z")
Just don’t confuse **ETA** with **PETA**. ---
**Author:** ![Sr\_Siete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/6de8d8/32.png) [@Sr\_Siete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sr_Siete)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/9 "2011-03-18T19:18:21Z")
Of course, if you frequent message boards dealing with Basque independence, you should be pretty wary of the posters using that as a sign off… ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/10 "2011-03-18T19:20:01Z")
I et a Cheeseburger fer lunch. ETA: coupla fries too. ---
**Author:** ![Chefguy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chefguy/32/138_2.png) [@Chefguy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chefguy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/11 "2011-03-18T19:48:45Z")
ETA follows ZETA. See? Easy. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/12 "2011-03-18T19:50:07Z")
Rio, by Duran Duran. ---
**Author:** ![Gagundathar](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/a183cd/32.png) [@Gagundathar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gagundathar)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/13 "2011-03-18T19:51:21Z")
> [@Chefguy](#): > > ETA follows ZETA. See? Easy. That’s Greek to me. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/14 "2011-03-18T20:02:58Z")
I also use NETA when I needed to add something to a post, but didn’t get it in in time. The N stands for not. I believe there is another initialism that some people use. ---
**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/15 "2011-03-18T20:05:33Z")
I usually use EDIT: to denote a comment added in later because it’s slightly more clear what it means. ---
**Author:** ![Al\_Bundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e79b87/32.png) [@Al\_Bundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Al_Bundy)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 8:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/16 "2011-03-18T20:50:08Z")
ETA is a bloggers term for adding things, much like PS. Why the person doesn’t just bump the addition up, I don’t know. Maybe they think it’s cure. Anyway, that’s what they are telling you. ---
**Author:** ![A.Gwilliam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ea5d25/32.png) [@A.Gwilliam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/A.Gwilliam)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/17 "2011-03-18T23:31:34Z")
> [@Al\_Bundy](#): > > Why the person doesn’t just bump the addition up, I don’t know. Maybe they think it’s cure. Anyway, that’s what they are telling you. That’s “cute”, right? The advantage of identifying something with “ETA” is that if someone reads your post before you edit it, they can see at a glance what you’ve added. It’s a bit academic here because the edit window is so short, but on other forums I think it can make for easier reading. I guess it’s also a sort of courtesy to people responding to your post, in that it makes clear that their “failure” to respond to something you’ve said is because it wasn’t there when they themselves posted. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [March 18, 2011, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/18 "2011-03-18T23:39:36Z")
> [@A.Gwilliam](#): > > That’s “cute”, right? > > The advantage of identifying something with “ETA” is that if someone reads your post before you edit it, they can see at a glance what you’ve added. It’s a bit academic here because the edit window is so short, but on other forums I think it can make for easier reading. I guess it’s also a sort of courtesy to people responding to your post, in that it makes clear that their “failure” to respond to something you’ve said is because it wasn’t there when they themselves posted. Yeah. The other reason I try to remember to use it in various heated debates is to make it clear why I was editing, so that it doesn’t look like I had a change of heart about an insult or something. There’s the ‘reason for editing’ bit at the bottom, but it’s too small for adding actual content. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2011, 12:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/19 "2011-03-19T00:06:37Z")
> [@Gagundathar](#): > > That’s Greek to me. h b p ---
**Author:** ![ClevelandProud](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7bcc69/32.png) [@ClevelandProud](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ClevelandProud)\ **Post date:** [March 20, 2011, 4:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185/20 "2011-03-20T04:05:34Z")
Grasshopper … Internet search on: ETA +meaning [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/meaning-of-eta/575185.md?page=2)