E is for: Et Cetera

                                              

This is borrowed from the latin and means to describe "the rest "of the things we don’t need to mention individually or don’t want or need to comment on at length.  The famous little “etc.” is well known  around the world,  however, I was not familiar with many of its’ uses!

                                                               

Kings  from all over the world  very often have titles that run into paragraphs  and have been known to shorten their full names by ending it with et cetera.  Yes, I'm serious!  Here is an example i found on Wikipedia: 
"We, Nicholas II, By the Grace of God, Emperor and Autocrat of All the Russias, King of Poland, Grand Duke of Finland, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera".
Sometimes, as above, even the “et cetera”  would be repeated several times just to highlight that several of the titles had gone unsaid;   the grandeur of the monarch should not be ignored because of the absence of  the entire block of information and because it is arrogantly surmised that the facts are so well known that they do not require repeating.  As we saw in the film  “The King and I” with Yul Brynner, how the King wanted to impress his greatness on everyone while seeming to be humble enough  to not mention all of his defining classifications.   So he etcera'd them out of the castle!      Check out this video clip:  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=j-t7uVdID3s

                                                                  

Another use of “et cetera” that is the most hilarious to me is how it can be used in a sentence as a noun:

Talking about a quote for a purchase of equipment:  “ The cost of the machinery and their etceteras is to be $136,000.” –                                                                                                                                         

Describing a lady’s claim to fame:  “She had a fashionable tailor and hairdresser, an unblushing confidence, together with a long train of etceteras.”                  

I can just imagine:

•  The kid at school handing in his homework:  “ The solar system consists of the Sun and it’s etceteras.”  Good  luck, Buster!
• The preacher during the sermon:  “ The 10 Commandments:  You Shall not Kill, You Shall not Steal, and etceteras..."

• The Chef at the restaurant, sharing his recipe with the sous-chefs:  “The ingredients are chicken, rice and etceteras”!      Yikes!      I'm not sure i want to eat there!            

 A nice replacement for  yada, yada, yada, if you ask me.  Not any more descriptive but I think a lot more “chic” to add to a sentence ~ what do you think?  Would you use it?

Signing off with a big smile on my face, trying to imagine who I can use as a guinea pig for my little test.  Oh well, my lunch break is now over so I should giddy up back to my office as I have a lot of etceteras on my schedule this afternoon!   :-)

 Better be a Little “S” than a Little Less !