E. E is for et cetera.

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The letter of the day was E. One of the words given on the AlphaBytes list was etcetera.

PET PEEVE ALERT!

Et cetera is two separate words. They are two Latin words that we have simply borrowed in their original form to use in English. We abbreviate them into etc., because we're a lazy people who can't be bothered to write out the words "and so forth" and thus resort to a three letter abbreviation. But if you're writing out the whole darn thing, it's 'et cetera,' damn it!

Another thing. If you look it up in the dictionary, you will see that the word is defined as, "and others of the like kind; and the rest; and so on." Thus, if you write (or say) "and etc.," you are a nincompoop.

And don't get me started about people who abbreviate et cetera as "&c." Because that's just plain dumb.

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I don't use it myself, but on a number of occasions I've seen "&c." used in older books.

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