To a Frenchman, everything is a platitude that is not a paradox. The Bramleighs Of Bishop's Folly Charles James Lever A platitude that nobody has expressed and that nobody has acted on is a great truth. The Ghost in the White House Gerald Stanley Lee It is tolerated to-day for no other reason than that it has cornered the platitude market.
It is short for the Latin et alii ('and others'), which means and others.. For example, the phrase IBM, Microsoft, HP, et al. means IBM, Microsoft, HP and others or Carrâ¦uthers et al.- Carruthers and others.
Et al means and others or it can mean and elsewhere.. When used in citing a reference it often means there are multiple authors of the work cited and the citation is for the first author and the others. John Smith, et al would mean John Smith and his coauthors. Et al means and others or it can mean and elsewhere..