Behold, the &c!

Ever paused to consider the depth of meaning behind the notation &c? What many things lie behind the innocent use of the two characters & and c? It's truly wonderful what those two characters can mean -- the only trouble is that they could mean so many things that we're still not exactly sure what you meant when you wrote &c.

In times past, &c denoted the words "et cetera," which is our times we write as etc. "et" literally means "and", so it can be properly denoted by the character &. Then, "cetera" abbreviated as c makes for the notation &c.

Which brings me to this point: If you're a college student in 1855 and you're writing a diary in your pocket calendar, you only have space for three half sentences. So, it's perfectly naturally to write,

Went to prayer meeting tonight, &c &c.

or

Went to town, visited Mr. C, &c &c.

The only trouble is that I as a historian have no real idea what you mean by &c &c.

'Twas what I ran across in a young man's diary while researching at Oglethorpe University. I was reading, writing, &c &c.