Why do so many people say, eck cetera,?

Question

When they mean, etcetera?

Answer 1

Its just how language develops over time.  People drive its misuse.  Pretty soon everyone will be saying "Aks" instead of "Ask".

Answer 2

I agree with Alex, but a more detailed explanation is this:

"Et cetera" (alternative spellings et caetera, et cætera; abbreviations etc., &/c., &c., &ca) is a Latin expression meaning "and other things/so forth," used when one is stating a series of something, replacing this expression for some logical progression of a seres of objects, people, etc. (I just gave you an example right there).  Here's another example:

"We're going to need balloons, streamers, gift-wrap, etc. for the birthday party."

That was a stupid example, but you get the idea (I hope).

Oh!  I get your question now!  I think it's just hard for speakers of American English to say the ending "t" combined with the "s" sound at the beginning of the next word.  American English lends itself to "lazy" anunciation sometimes.

Answer 3

Because they have no idea what the phrase means. It's Latin for "and so forth", but nobody thinks about the origins of words.

Answer 4

Because they are idiots.

Answer 5

You say etc when you want to add more information but you don't really want to mention them.

For example,  i like to eat vegetables like carrot, celery, etc...

so people use it to shorten their answers.

Answer 6

The correct form (Latin-originated) is et cetera. However, "eck cetera" is written wrongly, because some people pronounce it like that, replacing /k/ sound for /t/ sound.

This sound replacement is a rare linguistic phenomenon called DISSIMILATION, which means a sound is replaced for an original one in the pronunciation of a word in spite of the fact that its production place in the mouth becomes more different than the original sound, to the sounds before or after it.

Let's make it clearer! Consider the two sounds /s/ and /t/: you pronounce both of them by toughing the tip of your mouth (almost) to your alveolar ridge. /k/ is produced in a backer place of your mouth. In this case, /k/ is pronounced instead of /t/ in the daily, fast pace of speaking.

Then, people spell the word(wrongly)  as they pronounce it.

Answer 7

The language is constantly changing, thats one of the great strengths of the English language.  Of course, they mean et cetera, but it is becoming increasingly popular to say eck cetera, as you pointed out.  Some day, it may be common enough that its considered acceptable.  

There are a lot of rules of proper English that have changed, or are changing now.  For example, you are not supposed to end a sentence with a preposition, yet that is becoming common enough now that it is basically accepted.  And actually, why not?  He and I/ Him and I are constantly misused, but again, what difference does it make if the meaning is clear?  "Irregardless" is used a lot, it does not exist, yet the meaning is obvious, so it, too will probably be considered accepted English some day.  The language is always changing, always evolving.  

Answer 8

et cetera is Latin for "and so forth." It's actually two words.  I see most often ect.  Good for you though.  Got your et. al. down yet?

EDIT:  Starting my 5th year of Latin on Thursday, I'm pretty sure it's "et cetera."

Answer 9

cause no one ever taught them the correct way to say it, and when we, who actually KNOW how to pronounce things, try to correct our adult friends, they get pissed off.  Rather look like an idiot, I guess.

How about this one?

I had a classmate who used to end just about every sentence with "...and etc."   Like fingernails on a chalkboard!