usage of "and so on"

[popri]

I think Japanese people have a tendency to say "and so on" so often when they speak English.
e.g.) I like chocolate, cookies, and so on.

But I feel "and so on" is more used in writing English.

I feel native speakers would say "and everything" and “something like that", instead.
Is it OK to use "and so on" in every day conversation?

Thank you in advance.

 

[Tdol]

A Japanese speaker suggested to me that it was a form of strategic ambiguity, and said she used it a lot in English and Japanese as a catch-all in case things were missing.

 

[GoesStation]

Yes, and so on is used frequently in conversation, at least in AmE. I would not use it in your example sentence though.

 

[Charlie Bernstein]

I think Japanese people have a tendency to say "and so on" too often when they speak English.
(e.g. I like chocolate, cookies, and so on.)

But I feel "and so on" is more used in written English. Could be.

I feel native speakers would say "and everything" [yes] and “something like that" [no], instead.
Is it OK to use "and so on" in everyday conversation? Yes. It's fine.

Thank you [Don't say "in advance." It's obviously in advance!].

Much more tragic are the rampant use of the faux-erudite "et cetera" and the knuckle-dragging "and stuff like that." Avoid them at all costs.

Now look up the difference between "every day" and "everyday." They have very different meanings.

 

[popri]

Dear GoesStation:

Thank you for writing me.
You said that you would not use the phrase in my example sentence.
Could you please tell me some examples, then?

 

[GoesStation]

Dear GoesStation:

Thank you for writing me.
You said that you would not use the phrase in my example sentence.
Could you please tell me some examples, then?

You could say something like "I like chocolate, cookies, and all kinds of sweets."

 

[popri]

Thanks to all of you.
I think I understand now.
By the way, what's nuckle-dragging?
I couldn't find it in the dictionary.

 

[Rover_KE]

Try looking up knuckle-dragging here.

 

[bubbha]

"and so on" is overused by native Chinese speakers when they write or speak English because 1) the equivalent Chinese phrase 等等 is used more often in Chinese than its equivalent in English, and 2) the Chinese word 等, which usually simply marks the end of a list, is often translated as "etc." or "and so on".

My two peeves are the following:

"including A, B, C, and so on" ("including" implies an incomplete list, making "and so on" redundant.)
"A, B, and C etc." ("etc." includes within it the meaning "and", so the first "and" is redundant.)

 

[Tdol]

Maybe we need to improve our translations to ignore 等 as a list marker.

 

[popri]

Dear Rover_KE :

Thank you for writing.
I feel I'm so stupid, but I finally understand thanks to you.
I just didn't make sense why "knuckel-dragger" meant a stupid or loutish person,
but the word describes the way gorillas walk. Right? What a word!
And I do use "stuff like that." very often.

等 or 等々(=等等）is also used in Japanese. That's why Japanese people very often use "etc." and " and so on."
But I think it important to remember the havit of saying some sort of phrases like this in our mother tongue doesn't fit to other language.
Thanks again, all of you.

 

[SoothingDave]

If "and so on" bothers you all, I wonder what you would make of the people in my dialect that pepper their sentences with:

'n'at

 

[GoesStation]

If "and so on" bothers you all, I wonder what you would make of the people in my dialect that pepper their sentences with:

'n'at

I had to Google that one.

I knew an older lady who grew up as an Anglophone in Montreal. Her verbal tic was "...kind of thing," added to the end of pretty much any statement.

 

[Tdol]

I just didn't make sense why "knuckle-dragger" meant a stupid or loutish person,
but the word describes the way gorillas walk. Right?

I think the idea is that the person is like a less developed human, like a Neanderthal, Homo Habilis, etc- probably somewhere between a gorilla and a human. :up: