Make Your Editor Cry: (LATIN) [sic]

Make Your Editor Cry: (LATIN) [sic]

The Latin word sic is shorthand for, sic erat scriptum, which literally means thus (or sometimes so) it was written and basically means “This is exactly what the original material says.”

When quoting something that has a spelling error or grammar mistake, or even just presents material written in a confusing way, you can insert the term “sic” in italics and enclose it in non-italic brackets (unless the surrounding text is italic, then this is reversed)

Examples:

She wrote, “I would rather die then [sic] be seen wearing the same outfit as my sister.”

My favorite movie that year was The Falt [sic] in Our Stars.

The first [sic] indicates that the word “then” was mistakenly used instead of the word “than” and that the misspelling remains there intentionally because that is what was originally written.

The second example demonstrates that the word “Fault” has been misspelled demonstrates proper formatting when the notation appears inside italicized text.

NOTE: CMOS says “The best use of sic (Latin for “thus” or “so”) after an error in a quotation of speech or text is when the passage is under scrutiny for a scholarly purpose and it’s important to point out a particular flaw or problem in the original because it’s relevant to the discussion.”