Etcetera

[Beverly Flanigan]

Peter's first pronunciation is indeed common everywhere; for the second, I
hear a repeat of [I/Ek].  I suspect it's a reanalysis of a word whose Latin
origin few now understand: the 'et' is not thought of as a separate word
with its own pron.; instead, the phrase is reinterpreted as one word--a
"funny" foreignism that is simply passed on through time (in fact, note the
"one word" spelling in the subject line, with no space).  And I suspect the
Montreal French teacher just passed on the same pron. she'd heard; the
phrase is just as foreign to French speakers as it is to English, after all.
Interestingly, the abbreviation is also often respelled to reflect, in
part, the new pron.:  ect.

I'll admit I don't like it (sorry), but it's another example of the kind of
reanalysis we've talked about often on this list--though another example
doesn't come to me right now.

At 09:57 AM 7/30/2003 -0700, you wrote:
>I don't think it's regional--I seem to have heard it everywhere, and from
>people being interviewed in various parts of the country.  It's often
>[Ik'sEtr@] or, for emphasis, [Ik'sEtrIk'sEtr@].
>
>Peter Mc.
>
>--On Wednesday, July 30, 2003 10:59 AM -0400 sagehen
><sagehen at WESTELCOM.COM> wrote:
>
>>Is the commonly-heard pronunciation of "etcetera" as "exetera" or "ek
>>setera" a regional or dialectal thing (like "axe" for "ask") or simply a
>>misapprehension of the letter order?  Could it be related to the Italian
>>/eccetera/?
>>A. Murie
>
>
>
>*****************************************************************
>Peter A. McGraw       Linfield College        McMinnville, Oregon
>******************* pmcgraw at linfield.edu ************************