# Usage of \[sic\] for comic effect?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726
**Category:** In My Humble Opinion
**Created:** [February 20, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726 "2009-02-20T16:01:21Z")
**Posts on this page:** 13
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Dog80](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dog80)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 4:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/1 "2009-02-20T16:01:21Z")
In many Greek magazines and newspapers, something ironic or funny will sometimes be followed by [sic] and almost always it won’t be something quoted, just something written by the article editor.
This always drives me nuts and makes me want to go find that editor and show him my disagreement with the aid of a heavy blunt object. Actually I do not remember ever seeing [sic] being used correctly in any Greek publication.
But according to [wikipedia’s article](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sic), use of [sic] for comic effect is valid. :dubious: I don’t think I have ever encountered it in an english publication, apart of course from scientific papers.
So, is use for comic effect or to denote irony any common?
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### Author:  [@gigi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gigi)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/2 "2009-02-20T16:10:24Z")
I’ve never encoutered it that way and I think I would have your reaction if it starts getting abused that way.
In the ridicule or irony wiki example, it’s still being used correctly at least, but the comic effect use? I don’t like it. There are other ways to say that without blurring the meaning of the use of [sic].
Of course, the way I think to do it is
\*\*
The Daily Mail was the first “newspaper”…\*\*
and that’s all wrapped up in the misuse of quotation marks that is now rampant.
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### Author:  [@MostlyClueless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MostlyClueless)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/3 "2009-02-20T17:54:57Z")
Bad grammar makes me [sic].
First thing I thought of when I saw the title.
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### Author:  [@hobscrk777](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hobscrk777)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/4 "2009-02-20T18:12:22Z")
Here’s an example:
U[sic]GA
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### Author:  [@matt\_mcl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/matt_mcl)
#### Post date: [February 20, 2009, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/5 "2009-02-20T18:58:42Z")
Or as Dorothy Parker put it once, “…[_sic. Sic_ as a dog.]…”
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/6 "2014-03-22T02:35:04Z")
_Sic transit gloria mundi._
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### Author:  [@Cheshire\_Human](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cheshire_Human)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 2:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/7 "2014-03-22T02:37:50Z")
Aww, shit. I made a zombie.
_Braaaaainssssss_
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### Author:  [@Flywheel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flywheel)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 2:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/8 "2014-03-22T02:41:24Z")
From Michael O’Donoghue’s [How to Write Good](http://www.workableweb.com/_pages/tips_how_to_write_good.htm):
> [@](#):
>
> If placed in a situation where you must quote another author, always write “[sic]” after any word that may be misspelled or looks the least bit questionable in any way. If there are no misspellings or curious words, toss in a few "[sic]"s just to break up the flow. By doing this, you will appear to be knowledgeable and “on your toes,” while the one quoted will seem suspect and vaguely discredited. Two examples will suffice:
>
> “O Sleepless as the river under thee, Vaulting the sea, the prairies’ dreaming sod, Unto us lowiest sometime sweep, descend And of the curveship [sic], lend a myth to God” - Hart Crane
>
> “Beauty is but a flowre [sic], Which wrinckles [sic] will devoure [sic] Brightnesse [sic] falls from the ayre [sic] Queenes [sic] have died yong [sic] and faire [sic] Dust hath closde [sic] Helens [sic] eye [sic] I am sick [sic], I must dye [sic]: Lord, have mercy on us.” - Thomas Nashe
>
> Note how only one small “[sic]” makes Crane’s entire stanza trivial and worthless, which, in his case, takes less doing than most. Nashe, on the other hand, has been rendered virtually unreadable. Anyone having to choose between you and Nashe would pick you every time! And, when it’s all said and done, isn’t that the name of the game?
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### Author:  [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/9 "2014-03-22T02:42:18Z")
I just mentioned this in another thread.
It’s usually used so that an author can say “This spelling/grammar error was like this when I got it”, the way we normally see it. But lately I’ve seen people use it when they transcribe things with bad grammar. IMO, that’s a way to say “Ha ha, this person doesn’t speak as well as I do”.
For example an article might say:
I then asked Natalie where she last saw her keys before her car was stolen that fateful morning, “I seen [sic] them over there” is she could say before she had to leave to catch the bus.
But if it’s transcribed we get that you’re just writing exactly what was said and, again IMO, to write [sic] is needlessly pointing out that you’re smarter than they are AND probably pointing out that you’re smarter than your reader since many of them aren’t going to know what [sic] means.
I wish I could find that example I saw just a few days ago.
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### Author:  [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 11:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/10 "2014-03-22T11:17:14Z")
What a silly bunt. [sic].
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### Author:  [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/11 "2014-03-22T16:09:54Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#):
>
> I just mentioned this in another thread.
>
> It’s usually used so that an author can say “This spelling/grammar error was like this when I got it”, the way we normally see it. But lately I’ve seen people use it when they transcribe things with bad grammar. IMO, that’s a way to say “Ha ha, this person doesn’t speak as well as I do”.
> For example an article might say:
> I then asked Natalie where she last saw her keys before her car was stolen that fateful morning, “I seen [sic] them over there” is she could say before she had to leave to catch the bus.
>
> But if it’s transcribed we get that you’re just writing exactly what was said and, again IMO, to write [sic] is needlessly pointing out that you’re smarter than they are AND probably pointing out that you’re smarter than your reader since many of them aren’t going to know what [sic] means.
>
> I wish I could find that example I saw just a few days ago.
I really don’t think that’s the logic. The rule for one seems exactly the same as the other. The real problem is people being taught to quote everyone verbatim, including grammar mistakes, while also being instilled with a general hatred for said mistakes. It just feels wrong to leave a grammar mistake completely alone.
No matter what you do, though, the other person looks stupid if you use their grammar in print. Just the word “seen” will stand out enough, as, while people talk that way, they rarely write that way. I prefer just writing it the way the person likely would have, e.g. “I’d seen them over there.” Just assume the “'d” was dropped due to dialect.
Only when quote accuracy is absolute would I do it differently, and still I’d avoid “[sic],” and just correct the mistake in brackets, e.g. “I['d] seen them over there.” That seems to be more standard now. Or maybe just don’t include the quote at all. She said she’d “seen them over there,” pointing at the table.
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### Author:  [@monstro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/monstro)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 6:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/12 "2014-03-22T18:09:21Z")
> [@BigT](#):
>
> No matter what you do, though, the other person looks stupid if you use their grammar in print. Just the word “seen” will stand out enough, as, while people talk that way, they rarely write that way. I prefer just writing it the way the person likely would have, e.g. “I’d seen them over there.” Just assume the “'d” was dropped due to dialect.
I generally speak standard English. But if I regularly spoke in, say, AAVE, I wouldn’t trust just anyone to “translate”. Seeing Dopers mangle AAVE through the years has taught me that dialects are not always mutually intelligible. “She be sick” does not mean “She is sick”. If a writer doesn’t know the difference, then they need to quote the words that are spoken.
Quoting someone’s words in their own dialect is respectful, IMHO. It’s only when the writer starts throwing in phonetic spellings (“gonna”) or unintentional dysfluencies that it seems mean.
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### Author:  [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)
#### Post date: [March 22, 2014, 6:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/usage-of-sic-for-comic-effect/486726/13 "2014-03-22T18:38:54Z")
Well, on a somewhat different level, it’s similar to the rule here about not editing something someone else has posted and you’ve quoted. So, the [sic] is a way of saying “Hey, don’t look at me; I didn’t say/type that. I’m just directly quoting the way THEY said/typed it.” And it does carry undertones of the Church Lady’s “Superior Dance”; “Look how stupid the quotee is! They don’t even know how to spell the previous word correctly!”