# Tiny rant: For the love of God, stop writing "ect"! **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [October 30, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494 "2006-10-30T22:18:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MrSquishy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b9e5f3/32.png) [@MrSquishy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrSquishy)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/1 "2006-10-30T22:18:33Z")
I’m seeing it everywhere today. It’s “etc.” It’s short for “et cetera”, which is Latin for “and others”. What makes you think it’s “ect”? Everytime you see “etc.” in print, do you think to yourself “hey, they spelled ‘ect’ wrong”? I generally lean more towards description than prescription, but this one really chaps my tits. I await the inevitable wrath of **Gaudere** … ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 10:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/2 "2006-10-30T22:28:30Z")
How else do you suggest I abbreviate “ectoplasm” when discussing **Ghostbusters** , huh? ---
**Author:** ![kurilla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ea5d25/32.png) [@kurilla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kurilla)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 10:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/3 "2006-10-30T22:29:14Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] I’m seeing it everywhere today. It’s “etc.” It’s short for “et cetera”, which is Latin for “and others”. What makes you think it’s “ect”? Everytime you see “etc.” in print, do you think to yourself “hey, they spelled ‘ect’ wrong”? I generally lean more towards description than prescription, but this one really chaps my tits. I await the inevitable wrath of **Gaudere** … [/QUOTE] In my case, it’s usually a typo that auto-correct didn’t correct or that I didn’t correct. (I’m famous for taht, adn, and teh, as well.) Obviously, I can’t speak for anyone else. ---
**Author:** ![AHunter3](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ahunter3/32/368_2.png) [@AHunter3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AHunter3)\ **Post date:** [October 30, 2006, 11:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/4 "2006-10-30T23:13:06Z")
I agree completely! Those damn shock doctors _lie_! I don’t care what they say, bilateral, monolateral, reduced voltage, whatever, it’s _still_ destructive of healthy brain tissue and it’s _still_ not safe! ECT should be a restricted category treatment and should most definitely _not_ be prescribed willy-nilly! Why don’t they at least rule out other causes, other ailments, and holistic alternative treatments bef- WHAT? oh. NEV-er mind… ---
**Author:** ![Turek](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/turek/32/18782_2.png) [@Turek](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Turek)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/5 "2006-10-31T01:10:57Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] I’m seeing it everywhere today. [/QUOTE] Yeah, people do that alot [sic]. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 1:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/6 "2006-10-31T01:19:12Z")
That’s the one that chaps my tits (so to speak) - alot. I pretty much lose all respect for someone’s opinion when they toss one of those into a post. Grammar nazi? Moi? ---
**Author:** ![GIGObuster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gigobuster/32/421_2.png) [@GIGObuster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GIGObuster)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 2:14am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/7 "2006-10-31T02:14:12Z")
[QUOTE=MaxTheVool] How else do you suggest I abbreviate “ectoplasm” when discussing **Ghostbusters** , huh? [/QUOTE] [ECTO](http://www.cgchannel.com/forum/viewthread?thread=12300)🙂 ---
**Author:** ![dwc1970](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a183cd/32.png) [@dwc1970](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/dwc1970)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/8 "2006-10-31T21:35:58Z")
My pet peeve is when I see “and etc.” That’s like saying “PIN number” or “ATM machine.” ---
**Author:** ![lieu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c2a13f/32.png) [@lieu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lieu)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/9 "2006-10-31T21:50:02Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] It’s “etc.” It’s short for “et cetera”, which is Latin for “and others”. [/QUOTE] Huh, I thought it was Chicagan for Peter Cetera. Now I know. ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 9:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/10 "2006-10-31T21:56:11Z")
[QUOTE=lieu] Huh, I thought it was Chicagan for Peter Cetera. Now I know. [/QUOTE] No, it’s his brother Edwin Thomas Cetera, a disciple of e.e. cummings. But how else do you abbreviate the generic term “early cromulence test”? (By the way, according to my dyslexic keyboard, the term abbreviated is sometimes rendered _ec tetera_ – perhaps that is what is meant?) ---
**Author:** ![h.sapiens](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/e0b2c6/32.png) [@h.sapiens](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/h.sapiens)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/11 "2006-10-31T22:08:17Z")
I suspect that many people who spell it “ect” also pronounce it “eck-setter-a”. Which is an even bigger peeve of mine. ---
**Author:** ![begbert2](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/begbert2/32/3357_2.png) [@begbert2](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/begbert2)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/12 "2006-10-31T22:18:55Z")
‘ect’ is the abbreviation for ectartere. It means “with tartar sauce.” (what?) Hey, **h.sapiens** , how much would it annoy you to know that I typically pronounce ‘etc.’ as “ect” (or, ‘ehkt’, to specify the pronunciation better)? ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/13 "2006-10-31T22:19:10Z")
That’s how Buckwheat spells it. “Eck-tetera.” ---
**Author:** ![Nanoda](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Nanoda](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nanoda)\ **Post date:** [October 31, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/14 "2006-10-31T23:11:42Z")
The word I was seeing yesterday was ‘rouge’, as in ‘lovable charismatic rouge’, ‘rouge data point’, ect. ---
**Author:** ![Cat\_Whisperer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cat_whisperer/32/4839_2.png) [@Cat\_Whisperer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cat_Whisperer)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/15 "2006-11-02T18:44:41Z")
Is that like those guages they use to measure stuff, **Nanoda**? (Okay, in all fairness, that’s a word that looks wrong both ways.) ---
**Author:** ![lissener](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lissener/32/6139_2.png) [@lissener](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lissener)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/16 "2006-11-02T18:55:01Z")
[QUOTE=featherlou] Is that like those guages they use to measure stuff, **Nanoda**? (Okay, in all fairness, that’s a word that looks wrong both ways.) [/QUOTE] Don’t it though? My current bugaboo (although\*\* ect. \*\*is a longstanding major one) is “tounge.” Man, I actually have to apply Carmex to both tits after that one. Literally. ---
**Author:** ![Plynck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Plynck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Plynck)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/17 "2006-11-02T19:04:32Z")
[QUOTE=MrSquishy] It’s “etc.” It’s short for “et cetera”, which is Latin for “and others”. [/QUOTE] [very slight nitpick] It’s Latin for “and others of the same kind”, which is different from “et alii/et aliae/et alia”, Latin for “and others.”[/very slight nitpick] [QUOTE=h.sapiens] I suspect that many people who spell it “ect” also pronounce it “eck-setter-a”. Which is an even bigger peeve of mine. [/QUOTE] And I gotta axe you: How hard is it for people to pronunciate words correctly? ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/18 "2006-11-02T19:19:58Z")
[QUOTE=dwc1970] My pet peeve is when I see “and etc.” That’s like saying “PIN number” or “ATM machine.” [/QUOTE] Or “The La Brea Tar Pits.” ---
**Author:** ![Autumn\_Almanac](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/d26b3c/32.png) [@Autumn\_Almanac](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Autumn_Almanac)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/19 "2006-11-02T19:48:26Z")
I hate it when people mix up _i.e._, _e.g._, and _et al._ ---
**Author:** ![Polycarp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/82dd89/32.png) [@Polycarp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Polycarp)\ **Post date:** [November 2, 2006, 8:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494/20 "2006-11-02T20:49:16Z")
[QUOTE=Nanoda] … ‘lovable charismatic rouge’… [/QUOTE] And his trusty sidekick Mascara! 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tiny-rant-for-the-love-of-god-stop-writing-ect/378494.md?page=2)