What does (sic) mean?

I.J., Newcastle UK

• "Thus". I gather the gist is "I know that is spelt wrong: it's meant to be that way". Repeating a quote which has a spelling mistake in it, for example.

  Dave Higgins, Leeds UK

• It means 'so', or 'thus'. It implies that the use is wrong. Employed when quoting another and being pedantic, usualy (sic).

  Jonathan, Lancaster, UK

• Sic transit Gloriam or "there but for the grace of God go I." It is used to reflect the errors of others by quoting them directly especially in the use of malapropisms or bad spelling.

  Wilf, Puebla Mexico

• It comes from the latin 'sic' meaning 'like' or 'as'. Usually it is written in quotations to indicate that a mistake is like that in the original.

  Adam Taussik, London

• Sic is short for Sicut, a Latin word which, for those familiar with Latin choral works, crops up in Sicut erat in principio... or 'As it was in the beginning'. So it basically means Like that. It's used when quoting something with a spelling mistake or other glaring error, to mean Don't blame me, I'm only quoting.

  David Kimmins, London

• To add to further answers it is used as the shortening of "Sic Transit Gloriam" meaning (roughly) there but for the grace of God go I, therefore distancing oneself from the mistake and often passing silent comment on the writer of the original quote. Fine examples of such usage can often be found in Private Eye

  Wilf, Puebla Mexico

• When u add "sic" after a misspelt word, u r saying, "Hey! I know the spelling is incorrect, but this is excatly how the guy I interviewed said it"!!!

  GD, Chennai India

• King James' court recorder wanted to send a coded message to his lover (also one of the King's mistresses). He coded court documents to remind the girl about their first kiss, which happened to be in the King's bedroom. Thus, the abbreviation "SIC", for "Scandalum In Camera" (scandal in private chambers). They shared many months of romance, but soon the court recorder's body was found with the words "SerIatim Caveat" engraved on his body (One after another. Beware!). The girl was never heard from again. Shakespeare heard of this urban legend and adopted the word "sic" in his literature, probably to remind himself of love's transgressions and tragedies. Remember, "Certum est, quia impossibile"

  Thane, Sacramento USA

• Sic = "Stupid Incoming Comments" regarding the many comments made by George W. Bush. And a master at having his verbage cleaned up by his staff....so his "stupid incoming comments" will not be reflected in the history books! Another word in this case for "DUH." :-)

  Annie, Oregon, USA

• After reading many fonts on sic it prompts me to say that it means `something in careles(sic)

  jaikrish, Toronto Canada

• Said In Context...Meaning you took the words verbatim- miss-spelled and everything!

  Christine, Orlando USA

• 'Backronyms' (created to fit the word, but not creating the word) such as "spelling is correct", "same in copy", "spelling intentionally conserved", "said in context", or "sans intention comique" (French: without comic intent) etc. are all FALSE etymologies. Nor is sic a shortened form of 'Sicunt'. Sic is indeed a Latin word meaning "thus", "so", "as such", or "just as that". The usage discussed above is, however, correct.

  Piers, Manchester UK

• sic is most often used to expose another word or phrase to ridicule. It is most often appropriate to use when referring to the slippery slope or red herring arguments espoused by politicians.

  Mike Tompkins, Anaheim, California, USA

• I just used it, and then looked it up! I wrote in a memo: this can only be solved by cash (sic). This spontaneous utilisation of (sic) - which I also use in French, but not in German (why?) - occurred because I wrote this memo to a person whose name is Nicki Cash. Got it? cash - Cash? And I put down (sic) because I wanted to say with a twinkle something like: "Yes it is so, not just playing with your name."

  Pol Wirtz, Luxembourg

• Question with a question, but why does it not appear in The Sun, only Poseur Papers...?

  Harry Hopgood, Margate

• I am grateful to all of the contributors for giving me unexpected entertainment during the mundane task of simply looking up a word meaning.

  Giacomo, Pittsburgh, USA

• It was first used by the Germans in 1904 and in German it means a whale's Vagina.

  Mark, London England

• Dodgey had the best answer - I'm still laughing.

  Dave, Solvang USA

• ...as a parrot(sic)

  Bogmon, Hereford, UK

• I live in a road called Capel (sic) Road. It always looks like a error with an obviously missing 'h'. It pines to be Chapel but it isn't Chapel it's Capel. So my use of sic is to indicate, it is this, it is so, don't mess with it, whilst it looks like an error it is as intended.

  Graham Downes, Forest Gate, London, UK

• I love the way that there are so many mistakes - grammatical and otherwise - in the previous answers. Some were clearly intentional, but I fear many were not. This is known as Muphry's Law - that if you write anything correcting someone else, you will in turn make a mistake yourself. By the way, the James I explanation was interesting, but bogus, not least because acronyms are by and large a 20th century invention.

  Brian Steele, Hove

• SIC - Standard Industrial Classification

  Jay, London LONDON

• (sic) (with square-brackets usually) is an abbreviation of 'sic erat scriptum' which is Latin for 'thus it had been written', meaning that the quote prior was transcribed as it was found in the original source, complete with errors, coloquialisms etc.

  David, London England