50 Mistreated Words and Desecrated Phrases: Ex Cetera

Somewhere, Yul Brynner is cringing. (Remember The King and I?)

“Et cetera” is actually a Latin phrase, meaning “and so forth.”

Why do so many people say, “ex cetera”? That would mean “formerly and so forth,” which makes no sense at all.

(Ask Peter Cetera, if you don’t believe me.)

The correct phrase is “et cetera.”

Why else would “et cetera” be abbreviated as “etc”?

While we’re at it, let’s just settle something else, once and for all. “And et cetera” is redundant. The Latin word “et” means “and.”

Et cetera = etc.

And so forth.

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