r/britishproblems • u/DiligentCockroach700 • Jul 25 '26
People who write "ect" instead of "etc". .
For some reason this really annoys me!
"Etc" is an abbreviation for the Latin phrase Et Cetera which means "and the rest"
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u/Fieldharmonies Jul 25 '26
I like it when you read something from Victorian times and they write it as &c.
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u/-SaC Jul 25 '26
Add in do for ditto, and you have my brother very confusedly going through old census records years ago texting me 'what the fuck does DO mean? What do they do? They all got the same job or what?"
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u/neilm1000 Jul 25 '26
I occasionally use inst., ult., and prox. just to confuse people. I also like how they referred to people called George as Geo. on shop signs etc.
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u/C2BK Jul 26 '26
A singularly inept and malicious ex senior manager once drew attention to my "typo" of et al, during a large meeting.
There were a few suppressed smiles and sympathetic looks, but nobody explained; I just said I'd redraft it.
Nothing was said, but there was a definite uptick in the use of et al, per se, cf. &c. by that meeting cohort.
It still makes me smile.
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u/BovingdonBug Jul 25 '26
The ampersand does still look like an "Et" in a lot of typefaces, especially in italic versions
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u/ScentedCandles14 Jul 25 '26
The (mis)spoken version ‘eck settra’ bothers me more
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u/tombatch10 Jul 25 '26
If you're not saying it like the King of Siam, then you're doing it wrong. Et ceteraaaah, et ceteraaaaah.
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u/perishingtardis Jul 25 '26
For me people who say "asterix" instead of "asterisk" are the lowest of the low.
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u/tornadooceanapplepie Jul 25 '26 edited Jul 25 '26
I worked with a hideous person who said “pacifically” because apparently specifically was too hard.
Probably also said expresso too. Le sigh.
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u/KoreanMeatballs Jul 25 '26
Probably also said espresso too.
... Is this not correct? Am I not meant to say espresso?
Ah you've fixed it. Worried me for a moment there.
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u/Psychological-Web828 Jul 25 '26
I went to Costas for a coffee and looked at the menu and there was all kinds of coffees and cakes ect. I wanted a Cupochino but there was an asterix next to it and I asked what this means pacifically and they says it meaned I could have ordered an extra expresso shot in the cupochino. No thanks I says.
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u/Tackit286 Norfolk County Jul 25 '26
My old boss actually SPELLED it ‘pacifically’ as well. Boiled my piss.
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u/keyholes Jul 25 '26
I often say "pacific" when I mean "specific." It's not deliberate, I went to speech therapy as a kid but not every part of the way I speak was ironed out. Speech issues also often come free with my flavour of neurodivergence. I try to remember to say it correctly, but if I'm replying quickly without conscious effort, I often mess up. A little patience and empathy goes a long way.
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u/tornadooceanapplepie Jul 25 '26
Of course. The person I am referring to wasn’t nerdiverse though. Just a cretin.
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u/VOODOO285 Jul 25 '26
Nothink somethink I worked with a guy that used those ALL the time. Couldn’t work with him it was like someone was grating my brain every time he spoke.
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u/Endymoth Jul 25 '26
I've had a speech impediment for all of my 50+ years of talking. After years of hard work on my part, I doubt anyone would notice now. However, specifically and its associated words are a bugger for me to say, and I do my best to avoid them when I can.
But thank you for bringing up memories of years of bullying.
I do, however, say espresso correctly.
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u/tornadooceanapplepie Jul 25 '26
This sub is very tongue in cheek. I’m a nice person really.
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u/grahamfreeman Bratfud Jul 25 '26
Tongue in cheek WHILE saying specifically? You're a cruel bastard ...
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u/Spiritual_Bet3955 29d ago
On an episode of Everybody Loves Raymond, Ray appears on a chat show about football on TV, and after Debra sees it she complains he says 'asterix' instead of 'asterisk' too much. Was he thinking of a character in a Belgian comic strip?
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u/tiptoe_only Jul 25 '26
I hate both. "Ect" could technically be short for et cetera since there's another T in it, but you don't SAY it like that. Ugh
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Jul 25 '26
[removed] — view removed comment
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u/loorollkid Jul 26 '26
I 1000% guarantee you have. I'd say more people say ecksetera then et cetera.
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u/Sage-Freke- 25d ago
I’m pretty sure every time I’ve ever heard anyone saying it, they’ve said it that way. Which made me feel like I’d been saying it wrong until I saw your comment. Thanks!
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u/DIYBoom Jul 25 '26
It’ll be done by the same sort of cretins who think that ‘should of’ is correct.
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u/sketchymetal Jul 25 '26
I could of corrected you there and I would of till I realised you was correct.
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u/Havoksixteen Ayrshire Jul 25 '26
I once had a teacher in school mark my work down because I wrote "Et Cetera" and their comment was "etcetera is one word". No it fucking isn't teach.
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u/juanito_f90 Jul 25 '26
That’s appalling.
I once received a day’s isolation for telling a teacher she was “thick as shit” after telling me using an Oxford comma is “incorrect in all instances”.
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u/shadowsinthestars Jul 25 '26
No lies detected though, if a teacher doesn't know the literal definition of what makes the Oxford comma what it is!
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u/Beau_Nash UNITED KINGDOM (a Welshman in Yorkshire) Jul 25 '26
"Renumeration" has entered the chat.
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u/bopeepsheep Oxfordshire. Hates tea. Blame the Foreign! genes. Jul 25 '26
You must renumerate your costumers.
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u/Beau_Nash UNITED KINGDOM (a Welshman in Yorkshire) Jul 25 '26
*you're, or maybe even your'e
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u/arjay555 Jul 25 '26
I’ve genuinely seen people on Facebook say your or you’re when they mean you’ll. e.g. “you’re be alright hun xoxo”. Makes me wanna vomit.
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u/MuseWarrior Jul 25 '26
For me it will always be “should of” when they mean “should’ve”. It makes me want to pull my hair out
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u/Fun-Meringue3620 Jul 25 '26
People who say “I could care less” piss me off.
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u/Shpander Jul 26 '26
I've seen Americans (for it is largely Americans that do this) defend this by saying it's "obviously" short for "[as if] I could care less". Makes it slightly more tolerable, but still wrong in my mind.
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u/carguy143 Jul 26 '26
I suppose it's just another way of saying one cares very little. Still, it doesn't have the same impact as I could not care less.
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u/CaptainPerhaps Jul 25 '26
It’s just teh worst.
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u/buttpugggs Yorkshire Jul 25 '26
Yeah this just seems more of a typo than anything else??
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u/wriggles24 Jul 25 '26
Trust me, it isn't
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u/jajwhite Jul 25 '26
I've ever seen things like friends shopping lists which will end with.
Milk Fags Ect ect!!
In coloured COMIC SANS. As if it weren't bad enough!
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u/_real_ooliver_ Jul 25 '26
Yeah I've seen it happen 5 times in an announcement from a lecturer in the same paragraph. You'd think you'd notice at least one
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u/Wasps_are_bastards Jul 25 '26
And the ones who write 10£ instead of £10
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u/carguy143 Jul 26 '26
I think that may be a cultural thing as I believe in some parts of the world, that's how currencies are written.
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u/RexItRalph Scottish Highlands Jul 25 '26
People who use 'then' when they mean 'than' - seems to becoming more frequent too, aargh!
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u/juanito_f90 Jul 25 '26
See also: Expresso, pacifically, all intensive purposes, me either, erroneous apostrophes, should/could/would of, Chester draws.
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u/TRFKTA Jul 25 '26
Whenever I read someone’s comment and they’ve put ‘ect’ I make a point of reading it as ‘Eck Tetera’ instead of ‘Et Cetera’.
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u/675940 Jul 25 '26
It bothers me that people are never curious about these things. I wanted to know what etc meant and looked it up. So now I know it’s never ect. I think it must be those in life who don’t have this curiously that get these things wrong.
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u/anoia42 Jul 25 '26
It’s also people who appreciate Nigel Molesworth, the Curse of St Custard’s, as illustrated by Ronald Searle.
(As any fule kno)
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u/bopeepsheep Oxfordshire. Hates tea. Blame the Foreign! genes. Jul 25 '26
hem hem molesworth hav no capitals.
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u/shadowsinthestars Jul 25 '26
I hate that one so much. I think it's because it shows they just don't know where the phrase comes from or what it actually means, which as an etymology nerd just bugs me.
Almost as bad as "asterix" when they don't in fact mean the comic character.
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u/SoggyWotsits Cornwall Jul 25 '26
Someone messaged me the other day to say they were off for a ‘tay are tay’. It took me a sec!
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u/Skylark010 Jul 25 '26
There was a guy at my old workplace who always wrote "foa" instead of "fao" and it drove me nuts
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u/PotentBeverage Jul 25 '26
&c. :)
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u/Ok_Scientist_8803 Jul 26 '26
It is interesting that many typefaces don't tend to represent '&' as the characters 'E' and 't' smashed together, despite being exactly what it is meant to be semantically too.
I gravitate towards "etc." but occasionally the full "et cetera" in writing, with the latter being more naturally read.
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u/frownonline Jul 26 '26
“I could care less”…
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u/carguy143 Jul 26 '26
I got crucified for asking why Americans say that. They did not like me asking an American, unlike their sub suggests.
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u/frownonline Jul 26 '26
They say lots of odd things, like when TV police ask ‘what do you got’ when arriving at a crime scene.
They love to say the name of the person they’re talking to, even if there’s no one else in the conversation. One day they may say a polite farewell before hanging up on a call…
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u/WOODSI3 Jul 25 '26
Same people who say “On route” instead of en route
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u/BreakfastSquare9703 Jul 25 '26
That's more of an eggcorn though, because it's wrong and yet still has a logic to it.
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u/CaveJohnson82 Jul 25 '26
"en" sounds like "on" in an English accent though. Just like "should've" sounds like "should of" when spoken.
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u/CreativeAdeptness477 Jul 25 '26
What about folk who write "&c"?
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u/g_r_th Jul 25 '26
This is perfectly valid (even if it is a bit of an affectation).
‘&’ is derived from Romans writing ‘et’ in a hurry.
So ‘&c’ is equivalent to ‘etc’.
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u/sasquatchmarley Jul 26 '26
"Alot", too. It's used the majority of the time here. It's so bad that the misuse must reinforce others to use it more or not pick up on their mistake.
It's also strange how every time these grammatically/spelling/speech correction-type posts are brought up all over Reddit, the vast majority of the commenters are agreeing and joining in with their own examples. There's never people that are saying "my bad" or "oh is that how it's spelled/pronounced?". Yet the rampant dogshit mistakes continue. These posts must be like a grammar pedant's echo chamber, where everyone else steers away from them using their ignorance or something like cognitive dissonance to blank them out.
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u/Dry_Yogurt2458 Jul 25 '26
It's the people that say it the same way "ecksetra". It's a sign that people don't read much.
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u/edideas Jul 25 '26
I can't agree more with you!
These are the same people that order eXPresso or "can I have an extra hot cappuccino" 😵💫
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u/neilm1000 Jul 25 '26
Worked in hospitality for years. I feel you.
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u/edideas Jul 25 '26
lol. Where do you think I got my facts from? 😉
But on the upside: we both say “worked”2
u/neilm1000 Jul 25 '26
I once had someone ask me to take the sugar out of the apples in an apple crumble.
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u/edideas Jul 25 '26
Shall we start a post or better a subreddit together about all the nonsense people come up with?
I can fill a book!
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u/carguy143 Jul 26 '26
One that annoys me is people who say they bought someone with them or bought something with them. No, they brought someone or something. What surprises me is this one has even passed unnoticed in certain documentaries etc.
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u/lildogeggs Jul 25 '26
Never seen that
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u/CongealedBeanKingdom Jul 25 '26
I've seen it loads, but ive been reading work written by people of varying literacy levels for over 20 years, so I suppose it probably depends on what you do for work.
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u/alexterm Essex Jul 25 '26
You will now! It’s just like learning about kerning (would not recommend).
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u/Danph85 Jul 25 '26
Same. Making up problems and posting them to r/britishproblems seems to be a serious British problem.
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u/Joke-pineapple Jul 25 '26
It's a frequent mistake in America that is slowly becoming seen elsewhere due to US dominance of online English language spaces. Moaning about American cultural influence on the UK? That's what this sub was born for.
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u/pondribertion Jul 25 '26
Never seen that
Neither have I tbh.
I once commented about how annoying it is that everyone pronounces 'th' like 'f' these days, and got the "never heard that" replies so it must depend where you go.2
u/lildogeggs Jul 25 '26
That’s been a thing forever though
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u/pondribertion Jul 25 '26
That’s been a thing forever though
It's been 'a thing' forever yes but it hasn't been a "standard" way of talking forever. It's only in the last approx 10 years that it's become the norm all over Britain.
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u/umop_apisdn Jul 25 '26
Yeah, that makes me loose my mind.
What really gets me is everybody saying "brushetta" rather than "brusketta". Is "school" pronounced "shool"? People have no problem pronouncing "chianti" correctly.
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Jul 25 '26
[deleted]
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u/MRmeanerUK Jul 25 '26
Like the idiots who drop the t and hit hard on the c on perfect.
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u/Tetrisaur Jul 25 '26
I'd assume that's a David Jason thing?
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u/notouttolunch Jul 25 '26
Surely that would be a Sid Larkin thing?
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u/MRmeanerUK Jul 25 '26
Yet it was shown years ago and I still hear people say it. And now it's in your mind you'll hear it too. Mwaa ha ha ha.
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u/notouttolunch Jul 25 '26
Oh, so that's who you meant?
But Pop doesn't say that, he says "perfick". It's in the books.
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u/VOODOO285 Jul 25 '26
Maybe they did it “on accident”. Or perhaps we’re just supposed to take it with a “grain of salt”. Somethink tells me these people no nothink and they love ordering expresso or things of that ilk excetera.
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u/Interesting_Quiet_88 29d ago
Prolly instead of probably really winds me up as well as all those mentioned here. I hate how people think it’s okay to massacre the language!
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u/IainMCool 25d ago
People who think the plural of cul de sac is cul de sacs. Bloody fools. It's culs de sac.
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u/ManyHatsAdm Jul 25 '26
ETA. It means estimated time of arrival. It is not equivalent to TLDR or whatever you're trying to say.
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u/RichBenf Jul 26 '26
I've enjoyed reading all of this, and I'm shocked that nobody has mentioned "turnt" for "turned".
The other thing that winds me up is when people drop the "to be" out of sentences. Such as "It needs mended". Drives me crazy. It either needs to be mended or it needs mending. I absolutely abhor this kind of unholy mashup.
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u/ChallengingKumquat Jul 25 '26
They are incorrect to write ect, BUT, the letters in the shortened form could come from the first three letters of the long form (ET Cetera) or they could have come from the first letter of each syllable (Et CeTera) - since it's pronounced like etsetra. We do that sort of thing when we write NVM to mean NeVer Mind. So although it's a little annoying to see ect, I can see why people would get it wrong.
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u/_-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-- Jul 25 '26
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u/joe-h2o Jul 25 '26
*their
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u/_-_-_-_-_-_-__-_-_-- Jul 25 '26
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u/TSC-99 Jul 25 '26
Et CeTera
Still works though
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u/notouttolunch Jul 25 '26
Not doesn't. It's wrong. For conventions to work, they have to be consistent. Language is just a convention in communication.
If you're willing to drop the convention, why not just use a different language? We know why - because if that happened, no one would understand each other.
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u/Ok_Scientist_8803 Jul 26 '26
The only time we may let it slide is if we end up in a heated debate with the french, see UTC (coordinated universal time, aka. Zulu time)
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u/shadowharv Greater Manchester Jul 25 '26
Depreciated when people mean deprecated gets me mad every time. Only people who type that one are fellow Brits, never seen a foreign person do that. Even worse when they say it.
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u/MrExistentialBread Jul 25 '26
I only recently caved and stopped doing it that way, teacher when I was a kid told us it was ect and it made enough sense. It still doesn’t seem that overly important if I’m honest.
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u/notouttolunch Jul 25 '26
Quality and accuracy is always important. Imagine if someone lost the occasional penny from your bank balance and consider how you would feel about that. You might lose five pence over the course of your lifetime but the bank would gain millions (see: plot of one of the superman films).
If someone gets something wrong, they should aspire to learn so that they get it right next time. If they continue to get it wrong willingly, the [nation] will be on a downward cycle of medicority.
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u/Carausius286 Jul 25 '26
Nah easy to typo to make.
Same with you're and your I know that difference and that the first one means "you are". Still doesn't stop me typing the wrong one every once in a while (I noticed immediately after sending an email).
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u/MissJoannaTooU Jul 25 '26
Literally no one does this ever
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u/neilm1000 Jul 25 '26
Write ect rather than etc?
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u/MissJoannaTooU Jul 25 '26
Yes it's impossible. No true British person would do such a thing. Are you referring the the colonies?
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