{"id":5282,"date":"2006-04-25T01:11:01","date_gmt":"2006-04-25T05:11:01","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.law.harvard.edu\/formerlyknownas\/2006\/04\/25\/sick-of-being-sicced\/"},"modified":"2011-08-05T14:53:58","modified_gmt":"2011-08-05T18:53:58","slug":"sick-of-being-sicced","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/2006\/04\/25\/sick-of-being-sicced\/","title":{"rendered":"sick of being sicced?"},"content":{"rendered":"

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If you’re volunteering for the Battle of the Blang<\/EM>, you should check out <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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tonight’s lengthy update to Sunday’s post “that blankety-blank<\/U><\/FONT><\/FONT>‘<\/FONT><\/A> new word <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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‘blang’. ” The update was inspired by an interesting post at Language Log<\/FONT><\/A>,<\/EM> <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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on Monday, by Mark Liberman, titled “<\/FONT>Battling Blang<\/FONT><\/A>” (April 24, 2006). <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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This<\/EM> post is “inspired” by the same piece.  Mark starts “<\/FONT><\/FONT>Battling Blang<\/FONT>” with<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a lengthy exerpt from from f\/k\/a<\/EM>, which is always nice.   But, he spotted <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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a typo that I had missed in my piece and decided to “[sic]” it.  To wit:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“the Old Gray Lady becomes an accesory [sic] to languicide.”<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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\"sleuthSm\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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This got me wondering about implicit and explicit, rigid and loose, policies <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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for when to use the adverb “<\/FONT>sic<\/FONT><\/EM><\/A>,” which you surely already know stands for <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Thus; so” and is (per the American Heritage Dictionary<\/EM>, 4th Ed., 2000):<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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“Used to indicate that a quoted passage, especially one containing <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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an error or unconventional spelling, has been retained in its original <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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form or written intentionally.”<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Coincidentally, “<\/FONT>Sic<\/FONT><\/A>.” happens to be the abbreviation for (my ancestral home <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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of) “Sicily,” and for “Sicilian.”  Ironically (or is it?) <\/FONT>sic<\/FONT><\/A> is also a transitive verb <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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meaning:<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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1. To set upon; attack. 2. To urge or incite to hostile action.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                           \"dog<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Mark, being a scientist, certainly had no ill-intent when he sicced me.  He <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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merely wants his readers to know that the error\/quirk was in the original. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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For most webloggers, however, I’m afraid that “siccing” is meant to attack <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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or embarrass the quoted author or to incite the reader to ridicule him or her.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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\"tiny Frankly, there might have been a time when I would use “sic” <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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offensively to embarrass an author who was in disfavor.  However, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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I hope that <\/FONT>I’ve grown out of that stage — even if a bit late in life.<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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Indeed, your Humble Editor is quite often humbled by his many typos (and <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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grateful to a certain Anonymous <\/FONT>Editor<\/FONT><\/A> who often spots them and alerts me).  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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Besides not being a trained typist, I have always<\/EM> been terrible at proof-reading my <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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own writing — even when others counted on me to review their work and catch <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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their errors.  Things have gotten much worse the past decade, as a number <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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of my aging fingers are often rather numb (due to numerous medical problems), <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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while my old eyes have a hard time with screen glare and trifocal interstices. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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typo?<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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her divorce lawyer <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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listed under “Martial Law”  <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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        <\/FONT>dagosan<\/EM><\/STRONG><\/FONT><\/A> <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Perhaps for those reasons, and perhaps due to the sentimentality that comes <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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with finding out that one is no longer invincible or anywhere near perfect, I de-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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cided shortly after I started this weblog that I would not use “sic” with a quote <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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when I am quite certain that I know which word was actually meant<\/EM> by the author <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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and<\/EM> there is no good reason to embarrass the author by having the misspellation, <\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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typo or mindo<\/EM> pointed out to my readers.  Instead of “siccing” the word, I simply <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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correct it in the quote.  If there is a doubt as to what the author intended, I have <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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at times first contacted him or her to see if the odd spelling or odd word was in <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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fact intended.<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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In the example above, if quoting the phrase “an accesory to languicide,” from the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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f\/k\/a blang<\/EM> post, I would have noted the context of felony and crime and concluded <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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that the poor old author surely meant “accessory.”   Then, even at the risk of appear-<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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ing condescending, I would have edited the misspelled word and had no need for a <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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sic<\/EM>.   <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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\"erasingSF\"<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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Am I just an old, myopic and decrepit softee, with lax standards?  Am I making <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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excuses for my own sloppiness? (yes, of course)  What do you do at your weblog, <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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or what do you expect as a weblog visitor?  Peridemented<\/FONT><\/A> minds want to know. <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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update<\/FONT><\/STRONG><\/EM> (11 AM, April 25):  A wise weblogging patroon<\/A>, who is surely too <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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humble to seek attribution, has pointed out a particularly good reason to <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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avoid using “sic” in a weblog quotation: a correction — if not already made <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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by <\/FONT>the original author — is very likely to be quickly made once spotted in the <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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original post or <\/FONT>spotlighted elsewhere.  Suddenly, it is the “siccer” who is in <\/FONT><\/DIV>
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error, with no apparent benefit to any of the parties involved.<\/FONT><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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an old man’s ways–
my backside warmed
by the wood fire<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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the old dog
looks as if he’s listening…
earthworms sing<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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exposing my spine
to the spring sun…
old age<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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 <\/DIV>
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Issa<\/FONT><\/A>,<\/FONT> translated by <\/FONT>David G. Lanoue<\/FONT><\/A><\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/BLOCKQUOTE>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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                                                                                                                             “NolosharkS”<\/FONT><\/DIV>
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                                                                                                                               nolo.com<\/A><\/EM><\/FONT><\/FONT><\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV>
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<\/FONT> <\/DIV><\/BLOCKQUOTE><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

  If you’re volunteering for the Battle of the Blang, you should check out tonight’s lengthy update to Sunday’s post “that blankety-blank‘ new word ‘blang’. ” The update was inspired by an interesting post at Language Log, on Monday, by Mark Liberman, titled “Battling Blang” (April 24, 2006).   This post is “inspired” by the same piece.  Mark starts “Battling Blang” with […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":94,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2},"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[2926],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-5282","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-pre-06-2006"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p6kP1R-1nc","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5282","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/94"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=5282"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5282\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12674,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/5282\/revisions\/12674"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=5282"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=5282"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/archive.blogs.harvard.edu\/ethicalesq\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=5282"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}