[Tutor] (no subject)

[Suranga Sarukkali]

What does [sic] mean? I see it all the time.
June
Bakersfield, California
Dear June:
Us too. We always wondered why these three little letters appear next to 
misspellings and other mistakes. As with many grammatical issues, we 
learned that Latin is to blame.

"Sic" is Latin for "thus." Yeah, that didn't clear it up for us either. 
But apparently, since the 1880s, writers have used [sic] next to 
quotations that include errors.

This little notation means, "Hey, I know this quote looks wrong, but it 
was that way when I found it, so don't blame me." Maybe the original 
text used archaic spelling or the original writer just messed up. But 
the person who's quoting that text is aware of the earlier mistake and 
wants you to know it.

[Sic] is shorthand for all that, at least to scholarly types.