Showing Off Your [Sic] Moves

If you are reading an article (this is a great habit, by the way) where the author is quoting another writer or quoting a title, you may see the word [sic] insert somewhere in the text:

The cartoonist returned to another strip he drew in 1972 as a contribution to a compendium called Funny Aminals (sic). — David H. VanBiema, EverybodyOctober 27, 1986

[Sic] signals that a citation appears as originally found, with no edits.

sic usually appear in parentheses or parentheses, sometimes with italics. In this context, it means “intentionally written so.” Only me, sic means “so” or “therefore” and can be found in phrases like sic transit gloria mundi (“so shall the glory of the world pass away”) and sic semper tyrannis (“thus to the tyrant,” the state motto of Virginia).

What is the symbol? sic is the word or phrase that precedes it that appears in the cited original passage or the name used and is not introduced by the writer of the quote. Sometimes the quoted text has grammatical or spelling errors, but sometimes it may not contain errors at all, but certain types of language or expression may be undesirable.

In the example above, the comic collection has a funny title humorouswith consonants of familiar words animal permutation. The insertion sic indicates that the title has not been altered or corrected for VanBiema’s article, nor is it an error introduced by VanBiema.

Take another example:

Share price of Maple Leaf Gardens, which owns Toronto Maple Leafs (sic) of the hockey team, skyrocketed on bets that the team’s 83-year-old boss, Harold Ballard, could die soon. — economistNovember 22-28, 1986

In this case, economist is pointing out to its readers that is a maple tree is the exact name of the hockey team, not, for example, Maple leavesas those unfamiliar with professional North American ice hockey will likely see it on display.

sic especially useful when one is quoting from a source that has not undergone rigorous editorial scrutiny. That may include, for example, transcripts of interviews, or personal diaries or correspondence:

By 1852, Isabella had three children, she and Charles were looking for a home in Flat Rock. “Charley found a sight (sic) for a building overlooking Mr. Bearing’s (sic) milled pond and belonged to him,” Isabella wrote to her mother, “but whether he sold it or not is highly questionable.” They had previously seen Mr. Maxwell’s property, “but it was too high and windswept and the hill ahead is almost perpendicular, the water is lifted by buckets attached to a rope.” — Rob Neufeld, Citizens of Asheville-Times (North Carolina), April 2, 2018

This proved too much for Robert Barnett, the Washington super-lawyer and longtime adviser to the Clintons, who sent an e-mail to her senior staff: “STOP!!! I have help [sic] my tongue for weeks. …” — Joshua green, BloombergApril 20-26, 2015

In modern times, sic equally useful when unedited social media accounts become sources of information for journalists. When a post or tweet has typos or unusual grammar, the person who quoted the tweet can reproduce the post as it appeared:

Amelia Gray Hamlin, daughter of actors Lisa Rinna and Harry Hamlin, took to Instagram on Sunday to reveal that she struggles with anorexia. … “I have come this way not to be noticed, not to be pitied [sic] me, but to help,” she said. “I’m here on earth to help people, and I know it.” — Chloe Melas, CNN.com, April 2, 2018

Opposite the Grammy Awards, Oprah Winfrey’s fledgling OWN (Oprah Winfrey Network) channel was running a two-hour special about the late singer, and Oprah herself took to Twitter to plead with the families. Nielsen among her millions of followers: “Can people please switch to PROPERTY, especially if you have Neilsen [sic] box.” – James Wolcott, Vanity FairJune 2012

There are a lot of etiquette issues around sic. Because it often makes typos or uses non-traditional language, some commentators see it as a means to unnecessarily make a valid judgment about the language habits of others. IN Modern English usagegrammarian HW Fowler wrote that sic “Only use when in doubt [about the intent behind another writer’s words] is natural; but reviewers and controversies like to pretend they are; because sic give them a neat and well-deserved form of ridicule”; New YorkersLouis Menand describes sic as a “cursed deduction, combining the ordinary, garden-variety contempt with childish condescension.” Sometimes it may be better to paraphrase the text and avoid what seems like arrogant commentary about another writer’s choices.

On the other hand, it can be helpful to offer a slight correction or adjustment in parentheses to what the reader is more likely to expect (as in “don’t let people pity you.” [read: pity] I”).

But let’s face it: sometimes, pedantic condescension is exactly what you’re aiming for. So every now and then, you’ll see writers who can’t help but use sic to give, like a dagger to the gut, a dose of oral commentary:

On page 42 we see from below our arched eyebrows, ‘Night after night, I’ll fill my friend with these terrible Jean-Jacque stories’ (completely sic). — Kevin O. Nolan, Myles’ best songs1968

Furthermore, I have met with some doctors and many nurses who conscientiously object to participating in second-trimester abortions…. Forty-four states now have such conscience provisions, but Freedom of Choice (sic) The act will wipe them all out. — Nat Hentoff, ElleSeptember 1992

Also, it’s considered bad form to use sic multiple times when the same error or strange spelling occurs in a document. If the quoted writer misspelled a word and then continues to misspelled it in the same way throughout the rest of the text, there is no need to continue to point out the error unless there is reason to believe the reader may need a reminder. If not, they may want your help (sic) your tongue about it.

Categories: Usage Notes
Source: vothisaucamau.edu.vn