John Larrysson Column: SIC
文章日期:2015年4月1日

The word sic can cause some confusion. It has more than one meaning and has often been ill-defined. This word is often found in brackets after a spelling mistake in a quotation. The writer wants to quote someone and to be accurate copies the spelling mistake.

Example:

 

English has pursued other languages down alleyways to beat them unconscious and riffle (sic) their pockets for new vocabulary. (James Nicoll, in LINGUIST)

 

The word rifle, meaning to search, was misspelled. I want to show that I know that it is misspelled, but I also want to use the exact original (famous) quotation. So I put the word (sic) in brackets after the spelling mistake. (It has been suggested that a different word was intended, so keeping the original spelling has a use. The word riffle means flick quickly through.)

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I have heard some interesting guesses about what the word sic means. Many people have suggested acronyms: "sick", "spelled in context", "spelled in copy", "said in copy", "spelled incorrectly"...

English acronyms are mostly a 20th century phenomena and the use of sic is much older. It is short for the Latin phrase sic erat scriptum, meaning 'thus was it written'.

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This use of sic properly means Yes, he did write that when one is likely to be confused about the intended meaning. It should be used only when confusion is likely. Some writers include a spelling mistake in a quotation so that they can insult the original writer.

Older and dialect spellings are also sometimes marked with a (sic). This use can cause offence. The word is not misspelled, just not spelled in the more common way.

Example:

 

...Jamie the Saxt of Scotland becomes James I of England. (Inverness Courier)

 

The word saxt is an old Scottish sword for sixth. James I, King of England was also James VI of Scotland. What does one do if one wants to quote the Inverness Courier? It would be proper, and much more polite, to insert (sixth) after saxt to explain the meaning, rather than (sic). For example, it would be very rude to write “liter (sic)” or “centimeter (sic)” when quoting an American source.

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There are some other words with the same spelling and pronunciation as sic. They are generally dialect and non-standard. This spelling can mean such (Scottish English) and to find and attack (an older spelling of the word seek). The scientific notation SiC means silicon carbide. SIC can also be used for various acronyms: Standard Industrial Classification, Second In Command (on an aeroplane), Seat in Coach (tourism), Senate Intelligence Committee (USA), Sisters in Christ, Sea Ice Concentration, Société Internationale de Criminologie, Sea Isle City (New Jersey, USA) and many more.

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Be clear when you use the Latin notation (sic). It must not be used as a way to show that your English is better, or more standard, than the person you are quoting. It offers a correction when you must give an exact quotation, especially in a legal report. As a modern acronym the word is written SIC (UK) or S.I.C. (USA) English has many words with the same spelling (row, bow, rose, keep) and each time you use one, the meaning you intend should be understandable. The older and dialect meanings of sic should be clear from context and not confused with the Latin.

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by John Larrysson

[email protected]

A native English speaker who has been teaching practical English in Hong Kong for more than a decade.

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