The use of "sic"

[_robuchan]

I'm not a scholar, intellectual, or academic. Either as profession or hobbyist.

Whenever I see someone use "sic" when in a quote there is a grammar or spelling error. I automatically think "what an asshole". Is this more of a standard practice than I'm aware of, or is this really a way for academics to be assholes to each other? Because that's how it comes across to me.

[_Always Changing]

Especially when the error is minor. Doesn't it mean, "sic the grammar police on them?"

On the other hand, when used appropriately, it can mean, "This mistake was copied from the original."

I guess it depends on the perspective of the reader.

[_Kishkumen]

Sic literally means "thus." It is a shorthand way of saying, "thus it was in the manuscript I saw, and I have not introduced this error."

[_Always Changing]

I was sure you would contribute. Then the original was not value-loaded.

[_Kishkumen]

I was sure you would contribute. Then the original was not value-loaded.

Yes. Ideally. Identifying the errors of others is probably never truly neutral. But there is an important practical function to the word as used in the transcription of documents. We want to know what was on the page and not worry that someone has introduced a spurious element.

[_wayfarer]

in order to point out a spelling error or something minor, the use of "sic" may be overplayed. But it seems to be more around if the way something is represented in the original has inherent meaning the way it was represented, then the use of "sic" performs a vital role.

Many people assume that "God" should always be capitalized. But when Jefferson write the term in a letter to Benjamin Rush, he said, "I have sworn on the altar of god eternal hostility against all forms of tyranny over the mind of man." To someone who would think that it should be "I have sworn on the altar of God...", out of respect for diety, they might change it to a capital, or, not changing the original, one might write "I have sworn on the altar of of god (sic)...", indicating that the lowercase -- an apparent mistake -- was "thus" in the original, and to Jefferson, at least, that might have meant something.

[_zeezrom]

Out of curiosity, would "sic" be appropriate for a quotation of an older title page of Paradise Lost? I mean from back in the days when "f" was used in place of "s".

Like this:

Paradise Loft [sic]

??

[_wayfarer]

Out of curiosity, would "sic" be appropriate for a quotation of an older title page of Paradise Lost? I mean from back in the days when "f" was used in place of "s".

Like this:

Paradise Loft [sic]

??

no. the "f" in "Loft" is not really an 'f', but rather, the classical typeface that a lowercase "s" looked like an "f". Proper transcription would transcribe it "Lost".

[_Bazooka]

When you fhay it out loud it foundf like you have a lifp....

[_RockSlider]

In the case of message boards using direct, unedited "quotes", with the reference being a few posts or so upthread, it would seem the entire quote is "thus" (sic).

Typically it seems the use of [sic] on message boards is for ad hominem purposes.