As in the middle of a quote?
[sic] is used to denote a mistake in the original quote. I have no idea what it means though…
It’s sort of like saying “This is really what the person said, this isn’t a typo/mistake from the original quote”
See the first definition here:
http://www.wordreference.com/english/definition.asp?en=sic
It’s used to indicate that a seeming error in a quote is supposed to be that way.
“We was [sic] headed back from the Wal-Mart when we saw the tornado headed toward our trailer.”
The use of [sic] indicated that the error was included intentionally. It’s a way for the editors to say “We’re not stupid.” or “We meant to do that.”
I believe it’s latin for ‘thus’. But all you need to know is what Angua said.
“Sic” may be translated as “thus” or “such”. “Sic semper tyrannis” is generally rendered as “thus ever to tyrants”, and “sice transit gloria” as “such glory is fleeting”.
In effect one is saying “such is the way I found it” when adding it to a quote. It is an abbreviated way of saying “Hey, don’t blame me–it was like that when I got here”. In practice, it is often a snide way of trying to look superior to whomever one is quoting.
American Heritage Dictionary defines “sic” as follows:
I always thought it stood for “spelling is correct”, to indicate an originally misspelt quote/cite
More common is the saying “sic transit gloria mundi”: thus worldy fame passes. Or words to that effect. The ‘sic’ here is meant to refer to ‘transit’, not to ‘glory’. At least that is how I understood it.
Maybe so in common discourse (such as on a message board). When writing scientific work, though, it is unavoidable. Otherwise people are going to assume that you made a mistake, or you will be forcing them to look up the original text to find out who made the mistake. It is common courtesy to the reader to use [sic]. IIRC I had to use it once to ensure that the editor wouldn’t ‘correct’ the quote, which contained an old-fashioned turn of phrase.
Science is all about correcting the errors of your predecessors. It doesn’t make one look superior: we are dwarfs standing on the shoulders of giants. Wasn’t it Newton who said that?
Watchya gots there, jim is a backronym, more properly called by linguists a back-formation. An “unknown” word gets re-interpreted as an acronym. E.g., BASIC, the computer language, is another one. The real meaning of the term is forgotten by a segment, which then comes up with a reasonable-sounding acronym to explain the term. samclem will probably correct my use of the term, and provide more information, if he happens by.
That is definitely not correct. This pop etymology was once probably a mnemonic for remembering what [sic] generally meant.
While there are valid uses for [sic] as mentioned above, it also can be used snidely (also as mentioned above). For the snide use, imagine you pointing out your debating opponent’s typo or complete wrong fact by the use of a rolleyes, as in…
And so, you can, in a psuedo genteel way do it this way…
So, avoid using [sic] in that way, unless you really want to be snarky.
Peace.
Well, sinical [sic] brit, I hoped this helped.
definition of sic = I disagree with this person, but I don’t have much in the way of counter-argument, so I will point out his spelling error in a desperate attempt to make his point sound less convincing.
Hope this helps.
It’s not just used for spelling errors. Example: Bob wrote a report titled, “George Bush, President of the United Kingdom” [sic]. (Assuming Bob wasn’t make some kind of joke and in fact either truly thinks GB is president of the UK or just made a careless mistake.)
Can you provide a cite for this?
Because everything I’ve read about this, including statements by Kameny & Kurtz, the originators of BASIC say that this name started out as an acronym for Beginner’s All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code. And while that name may have been chosen to create a nice sounding acronym, it does not seem to qualify as a back-formation.
(Saying that it stands for Bill’s Attempt to Seize Industry Control is a back-formation, probably an intentional one.)
For a good discussion of the widespread use of “(sic)” in lame attempts to appear superior, see satirist Michael O’Donaghue’s essaby How to Write Good
In a high school economics class, I quoted from some economics journal. The article I quoted was about how national deficit was viewed as some mysterious monstor, and it was titled “Thedeficit” [sic]. Except I didn’t use “[sic]” and got marked down for “my” mistake. So that’s one example of a situation where “[sic]” is necessary, and not because I’m trying to appear superior.
well cheers people, i’ve always wanted to know that - my sister who has a 2:1 degree in English didnt know ! SD truely is a quality resource.
Ta muchly
sinical
"If I have seen further, it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.’ - Sir Isaac Newton
“If I have seen further, it is because I have been surrounded by dwarfs.” - Murray Gell-Mann
This is a different general question, but is [sic] really used snidely more often than not? I can’t recall seeing it being used improperly; have I just forgetful, or lucky in what I read?