I have seen (sic) EVERYWHERE, from song titles, to stories, to quotes, and even here on SDMB. So my question is, what does it mean? Thanks…
bracing myself for what is probably a VERY obvious answer…
-Dani 
It’s Latin for “thus”. It is usually inserted into a quotation to show that the person doing the quoting knows that the preceding word or phrase is wrong and is faithfully quoting the original error, or for the avoidance of any doubt about the content of what is being quoted where the content seems to be unlikely.
Thanks God someone asked that.
Its been bugging me for years. I remeber once being told it stood for “spelling IS correct” (in a sarcastically condesending tone impling that the author knows what he’s talking about you buffoon)which kindof made sense, but I kept coming across exceptions.
All hail the wealth of knowledge available here.
Whenever a question like this comes up, I always take the opportunity to bring to light a few other common notations. You certainly don’t need to know the Latin translation because as we all know, everybody who speaks Latin is dead, however I have included them here in the intrest of completeness.
etc.: Et Cetera, and so on, and other things.
i.e.: Id Est, that is. (Often used before clarification on a point.)
q.v.: Quod Vide, which see. (Used after a subject to which the reader is additionally referred.)
et al. Et Allii, Et Alia, and other people, other things.
c.f.: Confer, compare. (Used to draw the reader’s attention to a point of comparrison.)
viz.: Videlicet, namely, that is to say. (Used to elaborate.)
N.B.: Nota Bene, note well, carefully.
e.g.: Exempli Gratia, for example, for instance.
c.: Circa, about, approximately.
You must resist at all costs the temptation to actually use these abbreviations in casual conversation (especially i.e.), lest you become known as a weenie.
Attrayant, thanks for that list. Having been thrown to the wolves in a new desktop publishing job and now responsible for reviewing professors’ publications, I was always confused on those freaky little abbreviations, not knowing if they were used correctly.
I’ve printed out your post and am attaching it to my bulletin board for reference.
Thanks! 
A minor correction: this is properly rendered as “cf.” (one period, not two)
Carry on!