Sic
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Sic is a Latin word meaning "thus", "so", "as such", or "in such a manner". It is used when writing quoted material to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, punctuation or meaning in the quote has been reproduced verbatim from the original and is not a transcription error (i.e. it appeared thus in the original). It is normally placed within the quoted material, in square brackets and often italicized—[sic]. Alternatively it can appear after the quote in parentheses (round brackets)—(sic).
It had a long vowel in Latin (sīc), meaning that it was pronounced like the English word "seek", Template:IPA-la. However, it is normally anglicised to Template:IPA-en, like the English word "sick".
Usage
The word sic may be used to show that an uncommon or archaic usage is reported faithfully: for instance, quoting the U.S. Constitution:
- The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speaker ...
It may also be used to highlight a perceived error, sometimes for the purpose of ridicule, as in this example from The Times:
- Warehouse has been around for 30 years and has 263 stores, suggesting a large fan base. The chain sums up its appeal thus: "styley [sic], confident, sexy, glamorous, edgy, clean and individual, with it's [sic] finger on the fashion pulse."
On occasion, sic has been misidentified as an abbreviation for "said in context", "spelled in context", "said in copy", "spelling is correct", "spelled incorrectly" and other phrases. These are all backronyms from sic.
See also
