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Forum:Etc. vs et al.: Difference between revisions
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:: I disagree with this proposal. I understand your reasoning about why "etc" is not the best fit, but I do ''not'' understand why you think ''et al.'' is the better alternative. We do not speak Latin, we speak English, and in English, et al. denotes lists of people. It seems misguided to replace one slightly wrong term with a somewhat more wrong term. | :: I disagree with this proposal. I understand your reasoning about why "etc" is not the best fit, but I do ''not'' understand why you think ''et al.'' is the better alternative. We do not speak Latin, we speak English, and in English, et al. denotes lists of people. It seems misguided to replace one slightly wrong term with a somewhat more wrong term. | ||
:: The etymology of a term or phrase isn't always the most relevant when these terms/phrases grow and evolve, take on new meanings or lose old ones. | :: The etymology of a term or phrase isn't always the most relevant when these terms/phrases grow and evolve, take on new meanings or lose old ones. | ||
:: Also, your example of the usage of etc/et al. on [[the Doctor]] is frankly meaningless. Although technically [[Tardis:Citation]] states that "etc" is correct, it has long been held that "et al." was correct, and there was a forum thread before the forums were kaput that was in near unanimous agreement that etc was better! It just so happens that a policy technically already agreed with the consensus, which wasn't known to us at the time. | :: Also, your example of the usage of etc/et al. on [[the Doctor]] is frankly meaningless. Although technically [[Tardis:Citation]] states that "etc" is correct, it has long been held that "et al." was correct, and there was a forum thread before the forums were kaput that was in near unanimous agreement that etc was better! It just so happens that a policy technically already agreed with the consensus, which wasn't known to us at the time. So of course our pages are going to have mixed usages, and counting them is ridiculous when I could go over there right now and change them all with a quick "ctrl + f". Not only using ourselves as a source seems to miss the point about accurate referencing, you reference something that is known to be muddled and easily editable by anyone. Someone could change etc/et al. to "Electric Boogaloo" but it doesn't suddenly mean that "Electric Boogaloo" is the correct term. | ||
{{simplequote|''Et al.'' comes from the Latin phrase meaning “and others.” It is usually styled with a period, but you will occasionally see ''et al'' as well. | {{simplequote|''Et al.'' comes from the Latin phrase meaning “and others.” It is usually styled with a period, but you will occasionally see ''et al'' as well. | ||
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