# Et cetera------for what it's worth!



## Harold_V (Sep 21, 2009)

One of the things that bugs me no end is the misuse of the contraction of the two words, et cetera. All too many spell it ect., which makes NO SENSE, and _is not proper_. 

People, it is spelled "etc", with the C last. 

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/et+cetera 

There is a retired college dean on the other board I moderate. His sig line is:

"You are what you write"

What better way to show the world how little you know than to constantly misspell a commonly used word!

Ok, I'm off my soap box now. :roll: 

Harold


----------



## Noxx (Sep 21, 2009)

You are right !

According to the acronym dictionary, ECT can mean the following:

ECT	Electro-Convulsive Therapy
ECT	ECN-Capable Transport (explicit congestion notification)
ECT	Empresa Brasileira de Correios e Telégrafos (Brazil)
ECT	Edge Crush Test
ECT	European Central Time (time zone)
ECT	Explicit Call Transfer
ECT	Engine Coolant Temperature
ECT	Energy Charter Treaty (UN)
ECT	Emission Computed Tomography
ECT	Eddy Current Testing
ECT	Enterprise Class Teleworker (Cisco)
ECT	European Credit Transfer
ECT	Ecuador Time
ECT	Election Commission of Thailand
ECT	Error Correction Term
ECT	Embedded Computer Technology
ECT	Electronic Control Transmission
ECT	Electronic City (India)
ECT	Enterprise Caching Technology
ECT	Estimated Completion Time
ECT	Enteric Coated Tablet
ECT	Environmental Control Technology
ECT	Europe Container Terminus (Port of Rotterdam)
ECT	Pan-European Clinical Trials
ECT	Eau Claire Transit (Wisconsin)
ECT	Equivalent Chill Temperature
ECT	Environment Control Table
ECT	Emulsion Chamber Technology
ECT	Echo Cancellation Technique
ECT	Environmental Compliance Team
ECT	East Chicago Transit
ECT	Equipment Craft Terminal
ECT	Exchange Carrier Tandem
ECT	Extended Combat Training
ECT	Centrotemporal Epilepsy
ECT	Enlarged Cell Technique
ECT	Evaporator Condensate Tank
ECT	Engineer Cad Technician
ECT	Edinburgh Corporation Transport
ECT	Electronic Clearing Terminal
ECT	Engineer Center Team
ECT	Euro-Change-Team
ECT	Enterprise Complaint Tracking
ECT	Explicit Context Tracking
ECT	Exception Call Treatment


----------



## Harold_V (Sep 21, 2009)

Chuckle!

Thanks, Noxx. I'm actually feeling better now, not quite so grouchy! :lol: 

By the way, I was surprised to read it is not recommended in formal conversation, due to being redundant. Now I have more to worry about, eh? :lol: 

Harold


----------



## stihl88 (Sep 21, 2009)

Lol... Thanks for clearing this up, I am one of the culprits that have always written "ect" but was always certain this was not correct. :mrgreen:


----------



## eeTHr (Sep 21, 2009)

What's funny is that some people pronounce it that way too. Ek-set-er-ah. :| 

Here's one I see a lot: Alot---no such word. Allot---to divide or distribute by share or portion.

Another one I hear often is "height" pronounced with a "th" on the end. It's especially funny when people emphasize the "th" sound, as though they are being _really_ correct.

I also found out that people really hate it if you correct them!

One guy I corrected on it didn't believe me, so I said, "height ends in an 'ht' not a 'th.' He pause for a couple of seconds, then said "same thing"! :lol:


----------



## Harold_V (Sep 21, 2009)

eeTHr said:


> One guy I corrected on it didn't believe me, so I said, "height ends in an 'ht' not a 'th.' He pause for a couple of seconds, then said "same thing"! :lol:



Snicker!

Yep, folks don't really like to hear it, even when it's true. 
Want another irritation or three?

The use of the word "there". Seems to fill in for all of the variables, each of which has a totally different meaning, in spite of sounding the same. Their, meaning possession, there, meaning location, and they're, a contraction of the words they are. 

How about "seen". How often do you hear "I seen it". You see it, or you saw it, but you don't "seen it", although you may have seen it in the past. 

I wish I understood English better. I truly feel that you present yourself through language. I'd like to think that people see me as someone with some education and knowledge, even though I don't have any. :lol: 

Harold


----------



## scrapman1077 (Sep 21, 2009)

One that irritates me when they "have a garage sell" and they "sale things at the sell"


----------



## markqf1 (Sep 21, 2009)

The english language has evolved into a monster.
There is too much to it.
It doesnt have to be that complex to write something legible enough for someone else to understand it.

As I mentioned to our friend Arthur, the word "fly" can mean too many things here. :lol: 

Pardon my French :lol: , but alot of it is b-lls--t.

As far as I am concerned, a spade is a spade!

Harold, Your spelling, comprehension, and writing are up to par.

Off course, that comment is coming from an 8th grade dropout. :lol: 

Sorry for any misspellings( I don't use spellcheck),

Mark


----------



## Platdigger (Sep 21, 2009)

Thanks Harold, I am sure I am one that would spell it ect. Always good to learn the right way.
Randy


----------



## Anonymous (Sep 21, 2009)

What about the proper use of ellipsis? It annoys me when I see something like ................. instead of the three ellipsis dots. I think the worst is when people write a page but never separate their thoughts with paragraphs.


----------



## Harold_V (Sep 21, 2009)

markqf1 said:


> Off course, that comment is coming from an 8th grade dropout. :lol:


Shocking!

It's clear that folks that have innate intelligence have given abilities, regardless of their level of "formal" education. I believe that people of that nature get educated, it's just a matter of how it is accomplished. Mine, apparently like yours, has come at the hands of the school of hard knocks. 

Had you not commented, I would have assumed I was dealing with a person with a formal (and complete) education. 

Harold


----------



## Harold_V (Sep 21, 2009)

Ember said:


> I think the worst is when people write a page but never separate their thoughts with paragraphs.


Indeed. That, and writing in all caps. Ever notice how much harder it is to read a post when it's all capitalized? Even if it wasn't considered bad manners, it's not a great way to post your thoughts. 

Back to one huge paragraph; it makes finding individual comments extremely difficult, and makes reading the document nearly impossible. I am also not a fan of modern texting tricks, when posting. If a person doesn't have enough respect for me to talk to me in clear, concise English, why would they expect me to spend my valuable time trying to answer questions which may be poorly stated, leaving me to wonder what the question is? 

When you go full circle with this issue, speaking and posting in such a manner that you appear to have some intelligence often goes a long ways towards receiving answers that have more viable information included. 

I can't speak for others, but I always try to express my thoughts in such a way that the reader need not be overly intelligent to read and understand the intended message. That is something I learned, believe it or not, from reading Hoke. She managed to convey the pertinent information in such a way that a guy like me, with no chemical background or other formal education, could read the book and understand the intended message. Frankly, in my mind, she was a master at conveying a message. I feel I have learned a great deal from her book, far and away beyond just learning to refine. She was likely more instrumental in forming my writing abilities, such as they are, than all of the years of English I was forced to take in school. 

Thanks to all for the candid opinions. It's always nice to get to know folks a little bit better. 

Nothing negative intended by my opening post----just had to scratch an itch. :lol: 

Harold


----------



## Buzz (Sep 22, 2009)

This something my sister sent to me recently.

It's just a bit of fun but it is actually interesting.

To be fair though, i guess it only applies to those whose natural
mother tongue is English.

*Only great minds can read this 

This is weird, but interesting!


fi yuo cna raed tihs, yuo hvae a sgtrane mnid too 

Cna yuo raed tihs? Olny 55 plepoe out of 100 can. 

i cdnuolt blveiee taht I cluod aulaclty uesdnatnrd waht I was rdanieg. The
phaonmneal pweor of the hmuan mnid, aoccdrnig to a rscheearch at Cmabrigde
Uinervtisy, it dseno't mtaetr in waht oerdr the ltteres in a wrod are, the olny
iproamtnt tihng is taht the frsit and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae. The
rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it whotuit a pboerlm. Tihs is
bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a
wlohe. Azanmig huh? yaeh and I awlyas tghuhot slpeling was ipmorantt! *

Regards
Buzz


----------



## Harold_V (Sep 22, 2009)

Buzz said:


> This something my sister sent to me recently.
> 
> It's just a bit of fun but it is actually interesting.
> 
> ...


I think I'd agree. It likely requires that you are at least somewhat familiar with the words that have been jumbled. 

Over the past year, an email has circulated revolving around that very subject. It's amazing that as long as the majority of the letters in a word are included, you can read the intended message. 



> *Only great minds can read this *


*
I've never considered myself as having a great mind----so they are likely somewhat misinformed in that regard. 

It might be interesting to hear from some of our readers that hail from foreign lands where English is not their first language. Can they make out the words? 

Harold*


----------



## qst42know (Sep 22, 2009)

Buzz said:


> This something my sister sent to me recently.
> 
> It's just a bit of fun but it is actually interesting.
> 
> ...





I wonder if this phenomenon is somehow related to what makes reading all caps so distasteful? 
Altering the readers word recognition parameters.


----------



## Noxx (Sep 22, 2009)

Well, I had no problem reading the text at a normal speed.

I also hate reading CAPS as I feel like the author is shouting.


----------



## markqf1 (Sep 22, 2009)

Thanks for your kind words Harold.
My only objective is to be able to present myself properly, through the words that I choose to type.
As I've mentioned before on another thread, without the benefit of facial expression, voice tone, or body language, ... we truly are what we write.

On the other hand, I have a few Mexicans on the job that know less Engilsh, than I do Spanish.
Yet we seem to be able to communicate just fine. :lol: 


Mark


----------



## goldsilverpro (Oct 2, 2009)

What irritates me? Where do I begin?

The two most misspelled words on the planet must be nickel and separate - not nickle and seperate. Common words on this forum.

The height of rudeness - one who uses no capital letters (i not I), no commas, sometimes no periods, all crammed together in one long unreadable paragraph. I don't even read that stuff. You know who you are.

A person that doesn't use spell-check. It's so easy to do. Right click on a word that has a red squiggly line under it. You get a list of possibilities. If you spelled it half way right to start with, it will usually be the first one in the list.

I'm a fanatic about spell-checking, grammar, etc. I sometimes make as many as 20 edits, after it is posted. Even with all this effort, there are still mistakes. I don't except for others to be like me, but I do think that everyone should make a effort to fix everything they possibly can.

Spelling correctly and using correct grammar are used to make the writing readable. You are not writing for yourself, you are writing for the readers. Also, if your writing style is total crap, there's a good chance that people won't even try to read it.

Of course, large concessions must be made for those who don't use English as their first language and for those Americans that just really never learned how to do it. Strangely, many of the people in other places try harder and their English is better than many who have been in the US all their lives. Noxx is the perfect example of this. 

This is a technical forum. It's not myspace or twitter. You're not text-messaging. It's important that you pose your question in an intelligent (and, complete) form as possible, if you want a good answer. You're only hurting yourself when you use lazy English. You really are what you write.

Lastly, I hate those PMs that say, "Please, Sir. Teach me how to refine. I need to know how immediately."


----------



## Rhodium (Oct 2, 2009)

I'm the worlds worst about spelling. I also have to rely on spell check. I remember in English class when we were studying about sentence structures and how to diagram these structures, that i really hated it. Wish i had listened now. :!: 

I always relied on Math, history, and good old science to get me through.

Funny thing is my mother is a well published free lance author by trade. Go figure.


----------



## AKDan (Oct 2, 2009)

I understand most talents skip a generation :lol: Mathmatics is a much more beautiful language anyway.


----------



## teabone (Oct 2, 2009)

I don't except others to be like me . :lol:


----------



## Anonymous (Oct 2, 2009)

Rhodium said:


> I'm the worlds worst about spelling. I also have to rely on spell check.
> 
> Spell check does not help me much, since I often type a word correctly that is not the word I am thinking so spell check does not see the error of my ways.
> A good grammar editor would be needed to help me, if I am not beyound help.


----------



## Rhodium (Oct 2, 2009)

james122964 said:


> Rhodium said:
> 
> 
> > A good grammar editor would be needed to help me, if I am not beyound help.


----------



## Harold_V (Oct 3, 2009)

goldsilverpro said:


> What irritates me? Where do I begin?
> 
> The two most misspelled words on the planet
> 
> ...


Note that the above has been truncated, and otherwise altered (without changing the meaning or theme of the comments). 

GSP----I couldn't have said it any better. To be quite frank, I am nothing short of annoyed with people that have no courtesy, imposing on my private time with poor language and unreasonable demands. 

Send me a message like you're texting a high school buddy, I'm inclined to tell you to go to hell. Use full words, and use punctuation _and caps when appropriate_. Most importantly, detail the question, providing ALL of the details, not just the ones you want us to hear. The small thing you leave out is likely to be key to the solution. 

What we say and do represents us-----and tells the world what type of person we are. If a person doesn't show due respect, why in hell would they expect those of us that contribute our hard won knowledge to do so when they can't take enough time to apply proper communication skills?

If a reader wants to be ignored by me-----it's easy to accomplish. Simply post a question without punctuation, with terrible grammar, all in one huge paragraph, or all in caps. 

Want another?

How about the guy that has a problem, but doesn't give you any details? "My gold didn't come down. What did I do wrong?"

Huh? What the friggin hell is that supposed to mean? 

Don't you think it would be a good idea to detail what you have done, and how you did it, so those that might be able to help will have enough information to make a decision on what might have gone wrong? We aren't mind readers, nor are we standing where you are, to see what you have done. 

The worst possible offense? Send a PM to me, and *any other member*, asking for resolution to a problem. If you want the opinion of the masses, post the question. If you want private tutoring, pick the candidate you prefer, and ask the question(s) of that individual only. I will no longer cooperate with inquiries so submitted. If you want my opinion, ask me, and no one else. It's not that I think I know more than anyone else does. I know I don't. I do know, however, that even guys like GSP, who has years of experience, does things differently than I do. If a reader accepts advice from more than one party, and experiences a problem, how in hell can I determine what went wrong, when in truth, they haven't followed my instructions. By following the advice of only one person, when things go south, the person doing the advising has a fighting chance of understanding what went wrong. 

Last of all, people, use proper terms. If you are melting your metal, that's what you are doing-----you're melting your metal. You are not "smelting". That is the process of reducing metals from ores. Few of us will ever find ourselves working in that capacity. 

Harold


----------



## Gold Trail (Oct 7, 2009)

I will attempt to self censor this:

I had an older man email me his resume for an opening we had at my scrap yard. now, please keep in mind, he EMAILED this to me.

It read something like this: "Dear Ryan, please find my resume attached to this email. When may I c-m in for a interview? "

YES! he wrote C * M as opposed to "come" 

needless to say I never returned his call.

Another one we get "alunium" A Luni Um is how we often hear it referred as

we buy some plastics, I got a call from a guy wanting to know if we bought "PCP" pipe scrap (meaning PVC)

the drunks and the drug addicts are the best for these little blips. i wish we had audio on our security cameras, as i could put together one funny movie!! I have heard so many blips i have lost track of most of them, as its so often around there!!


People will never cease to amaze me. just when you thought you've heard / seen it all....

Ryan


----------



## patnor1011 (Nov 12, 2009)

Sorry to posting spam to Harolds thread, and while I know that my english is not excellent I want to point out to one thing which I saw here few times. It is web page - aka "website" in short: site. Handfull of members using expession "sight" which is what you see when you have your eyes opened I think... Once again sorry for my english and I might be completely wrong but, or am I right? Who knows...

*edited I changed all i am to I am and put capital letters on start of sentences. Just saw post about that and I have to admit that I was doing that becouse of my lazines :lol: You can see my original post in caption on Harolds post - full of mistakes OMG.


----------



## Harold_V (Nov 13, 2009)

patnor1011 said:


> sorry to posting spam to harolds thread, and while i know that my english is not excellent i want to point out to one thing which i saw here few times. it is web page - aka "website" in short site. handfull of members using expession "sight" which is what you see when eyes opened i think... once again sorry for my english and i might be completely wrong but, might be i am right? who knows...


Patnor, you, above all, have no need to apologize for your English. You came from a land that spoke a language that is foreign to most of us, yet your command of the English language is, in general, better than many of the people that were born and raised in the US. 

By the way, you're right. Sight is the ability to see. Site is a location. 

Harold


----------



## butcher (Nov 13, 2009)

I live in this english speaking country, and still can not speak it, or write it. 

Partnor: your communication skills I admire. your messages are alway's clear to me.


----------



## goldsilverpro (Nov 13, 2009)

Harold and butcher are right, patnor. Your English is fine. Even with all lower case, what you write is very readable. Of course, now that you've shown us you know now to capitalize the first letter of each sentence, we expect this from now on. 

Recently, there seems to be a rash of EBay sellers that write in huge bold type, often in some color other than black. I guess they think that this will draw attention to their product. For me, it's just the opposite. I refuse to wade through it.


----------



## Harold_V (Nov 14, 2009)

goldsilverpro said:


> Recently, there seems to be a rash of EBay sellers that write in huge bold type, often in some color other than black. I guess they think that this will draw attention to their product. For me, it's just the opposite. I refuse to wade through it.


I have been known to send a message to these morons telling them to lose the all caps text, and I'd certainly include losing weird colors. Instead, like you, I now just ignore a listing if it is stupid, and many are. I also refuse to buy from anyone that insists on paypal. I am not going to allow any corporation to dictate how I spend my money. If I must use paypal, I'll go elsewhere. 

By the way, I (we) practice what we preach. I still pay for my ebay purchases with personal checks. With over 200 positive feedbacks, why shouldn't a seller trust us?

Harold


----------



## Oz (Nov 14, 2009)

Just to be clear for those that do not follow this kind of thing, eBay bought pay pal so it is all a double commission now, and recourse due to fraud is of course a joke as they are owned by the same entity.


----------



## nickvc (Nov 14, 2009)

Oz said:


> Just to be clear for those that do not follow this kind of thing, eBay bought pay pal so it is all a double commission now, and recourse due to fraud is of course a joke as they are owned by the same entity.


 :shock: :roll:


----------



## Barren Realms 007 (Nov 28, 2009)

Buzz said:


> This something my sister sent to me recently.
> 
> It's just a bit of fun but it is actually interesting.
> 
> ...




If I can read this fine, which I can. Does it mean I am BASS ACKWARDS?

And my wife tells me I can't spell.


----------

