''Sic''—generally inside square brackets, [sic], and occasionally parentheses, (sic)—when added just after a quote or reprinted text, indicates the passage appears exactly as in the original source. The usual purpose is to inform readers that any errors or apparent errors in the copied material are not from transcription—that they are reproduced exactly from the original writer or printer. A bracketed sic may also be used as a form of ridicule or as a humorous comment, typically by drawing attention to the original writer's mistakes.

Though occasionally misidentified as an abbreviation, ''sic'' is an English-language adverb (also a noun and verb) that has its origins in Latin.

Etymology and usage history

The adverb ''sic''—meaning "intentionally so written"—first appeared in English circa 1856. It is derived from the Latin adverb ''sīc'', which contains a long vowel and means "so", "thus", "as such" or "in such a manner". In English, ''sic'' is a homophone of ''sick'' ; its Latin ancestor is pronounced more like the English word ''seek'' .

In one early instance, a letter written in July 1876 by Dr. Enoch Mellor to the editor of the ''Literary Churchman'' discussed "the cheap insinuation of ignorance which can lie in a bracketed sic."

According to the ''Oxford English Dictionary'', the verb form of ''sic'', meaning "to mark with a sic", emerged in 1889, citing E. Belfort Bax work in ''The Ethics of Socialism'' as one of the early examples. That piece by Bax, "On Some Forms of Modern Cant," had actually appeared even earlier in ''Commonweal'', published in 1887.

Usage of sic greatly increased in the mid-twentieth century. For example, in state-court opinions prior to 1944, the Latin loanword appeared a total of 1,239 times in the Westlaw database; in those from 1945 to 1990, it appeared 69,168 times. The "benighted use" (see Form of ridicule) has been cited as a major factor for this increase.

The "immoderate" use of sics created some controversy, leading some editors, Simon Nowell-Smith and Leon Edel, to speak out against it.

Conventional usage

''Sic'', in its bracketed form, is most often inserted into quoted or reprinted material in order to indicate accuracy in reproducing the preceding text despite appearances to the reader of an incorrect or unusual orthography (spelling, punctuation, etc.), grammar, fact or logic. Several usage guides recommend that a bracketed sic be used primarily as an aid to the reader, and not as an indicator of disagreement with the source.

A sic may show that an uncommon or archaic usage is reported faithfully, such as when quoting the U.S. Constitution: "The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speaker..." However, various writing guidebooks discourage its use with regard to dialect such as exemplified in American and British English spelling differences. For instance, the appearance of a bracketed sic after the word ''analyses'' on a book cover led Bryan A. Garner to comment, "... all the quoter (or overzealous editor) demonstrated was ignorance of British usage."

When no orthographic or grammatical irregularities are apparent, siccing may indicate a factual or logical error, which has been done, for example, with various notable Bushisms—or slips of the tongue by former U.S. President George W. Bush.

Formatting

When placed within quoted material, square brackets are almost invariably used: "[sic]". Alternatively, the sic can appear after the quote in parentheses (round brackets): "(sic)", especially when the error is obvious. Sometimes, the word ''sic'' appears italicized within the brackets: "[''sic'']", following the convention that italic type is used to indicate foreign words, though this has become rarer in recent times. While most style guidelines including ''The MLA'' do not require italicization, others do, such as the ''APA Style''.

Because ''sic'' is not an abbreviation, it is unnecessary to include a period inside the brackets after the word ''sic'' (see also improper abbreviation).

Correcting versus siccing

Various usage guides, such as ''The Chicago Manual of Style'', recommend "quiet copyediting" (unless where inappropriate or uncertain) instead of inserting a bracketed sic, such as by substituting in brackets the correct word (if known) in place of the incorrect word (see also "backlash" in Form of ridicule).

Alternatively, when both the original and the suggested correction are desired (as they often are in palaeography), one may insert inside brackets (after ''sic'' or without ''sic'') the word ''recte'', meaning "rightly" in Latin, followed by the correct word: :"An Iraqi battalion has consumed [sic, recte assumed] control of the former American military base, and our forces are now about 40 minutes outside the city." According to the ''Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music Style Sheet'', there should be no punctuation before the corrected word when using ''recte''. Sometimes only ''sic'' and the correction are in the bracket—[sic correct phrase] (i.e. ''recte'' is omitted).

Other usages

The following are some unconventional or rare uses for sics:

Wordplay

Various wordplays regarding the word ''sic'' are possible, arising either from its second polysemic meaning "to attack" or from its homophone ''sick''. The latter case is exemplified by the humorous expression "Poor grammar makes me [sic]"—which has been featured on clothing and postcards.

Another example of this kind of pun can be found in the website Tv Tropes, which uses it as an article title as well as in a letter to the ''American Journal of Roentgenology'' criticizing their apparent overuse of the sic as a kind of "sick joke" against those from a foreign-language background that could lead readers to become "sick of your sic." (see linguistic discrimination below for more information on the ''AJR'' letter)

Form of ridicule

The use of sics can be seen as an appeal to ridicule, whether intentional or not, because it highlights perceived irregularities. The application of sics with the intent to disparage has been called the "benighted use" because it creates a "false sense of superiority" in its users. The following example from ''The Times'' demonstrates how the interpolation of a sic can subtly discredit a quoted statement: :Warehouse has been around for 30 years and has 263 stores, suggesting a large fan base. The chain sums up its appeal thus: "styley [sic], confident, sexy, glamorous, edgy, clean and individual, with it's [sic] finger on the fashion pulse."

However, there have been cases of sic's usage being interpreted as ridicule that have resulted in backlash towards the publications in which they appear. Backlash can also happen as a result of a misplaced sic even when there was no intent to disparage. When the American Broadcasting Company (ABC) failed to remove a sic after the typographical error it referred to was rectified in the quoted message, the television network received criticism for apparently suggesting that a belief in the afterlife is odd or erroneous. (By convention, when no orthographic or grammatical errors are present, the use of a sic often indicates an error in logic).

Self-siccing

While chiefly used in text that is not one's own, occasionally, a sic is included by a writer after his or her own word(s) to note that the language has been chosen deliberately, especially where a reader may naturally doubt the writer's intentions. Bryan A. Garner dubbed this kind of siccing as the "ironic use," while giving the following example from Fred Rodell ''Nine Men'': Nonetheless, a writer's siccing of his or her own words may lead readers to confuse the source of the sic as being the book's editor and is often considered strange even when the sic's source is understood.

Linguistic discrimination

Siccing has been noted for its potential to encourage linguistic discrimination. One letter written to the ''American Journal of Roentgenology'' (AJR) has been cited in the journal's French counterpart, the ''Journal de Radiologie'', regarding how potential prejudices among English-language journals may be causing a higher rejection rate of papers from francophone authors—a concern because English is the lingua franca for medicine. In the letter, the ''AJR'' was criticized for its frequent insertion of sics when presenting letters written by French and Japanese authors even though its letter submission agreement allowed for (and implied) copy-editing. In response, Lee F. Rogers, the Editor in Chief of ''AJR'', apologized for the possible discriminatory interpretation and offered the following explanation for their decision to insert multiple sics rather than to copy-edit:

Improper acronyms

On occasion, sic has been misidentified as an acronym for "said in context," "spelled in context," "said in copy," "spelling is correct," "spelled incorrectly," and other phrases. These are all backronyms from ''sic''.

See also

List of Latin phrases

Sic et Non

Sic semper tyrannis

Sic transit gloria mundi

Stet

Footnotes

References

Category:Latin words and phrases Category:English words and phrases of foreign origin

af:Sic ar:كذا br:Sic bg:Sic ca:Sic cs:Sic da:Sic de:Sic el:Sic es:Sic eo:Sic eu:Sic fr:Sic hr:Sic id:Sic is:Sic it:Sic nl:Sic (Latijn) ja:ママ (引用) no:Sic nn:Sic pl:Sic! pt:Sic ro:Sic ru:Sic simple:Sic sk:Sic sr:Sic fi:Sic sv:Sic tr:Sic uk:Sic zh:Sic

Name	Mac Mall
Background	solo_singer
Birth name	Jamal Rocker
Alias
Origin	Vallejo, California
Instruments	Rapping
Genre	Rap
Years active	1992–present
Notable albums	Illegal Business (1993), Untouchable (1996)
Notable songs	"Ghetto Theme", "Get Right"
Website	}}

Mac Mall, (born Jamal Rocker in Vallejo, California) is a West Coast rapper who became known in the mid/late 1990s, as one of the local artists putting the Bay Area on the hip hop map. Mac Mall was signed to Young Black Brotha Records.

One of Mac Mall's first singles was a song called "Ghetto Theme", and the music video directed by Tupac Shakur in 1994. He was also longtime friends with Mac Dre, who was his mentor early on in his career/ repairing their friendship a couple of years before Dre's death. He is also cousins to E-40 and B-Legit.

Career

In 1993 Mac Mall released his debut album ''Illegal Business?'' on the Young Black Brotha label. Khayree Shaheed worked as the producer and the album featured Ray Luv, Mac Dre and The Mac. In 1995 he contributed a verse to E-40's "Dusted and Disgusted" and Eightball & MJG's "Friend or Foe". In 1996 he signed a record deal with Relativity Records, which released his second, and most commercially successful album, ''Untouchable''.

In 1996, he appeared on the Red Hot Organization's compilation CD, America is Dying Slowly, alongside Biz Markie, Wu-Tang Clan, and Fat Joe, among many other prominent hip hop artists. The CD, meant to raise awareness of the AIDS epidemic among African American men, was heralded as "a masterpiece" by The Source magazine.

In 1999, he started his own Sessed Out label, the first release being the compilation ''Mac Mall Presents the Mallennium'', followed by his first solo album on the label and third overall, ''Illegal Business? 2000'' a year later. His popularity of a few years earlier had waned, and the album wasn't as successful as his past one. ''Immaculate'' followed in 2001, on which he mixed gangster rap with religious themes, with ''Mackin' Speaks Louder Than Words'' in 2002 and Illegal Game in 2004.

In 2011 Mac Mall recently announced that he will release an album this year called The Rebellion Against All There Is. The longtime collaborator of JT The Bigga Figga and the late Mac Dre, will release the album on his own Thizzlamic Records/YBB Records. ''The Rebellion Against All There Is'' is 17 tracks deep with features from Ray Luv, Shima, Boss Hogg, Luiyo La Musico and Latriece Love. The first single of the album is: To Live In The Bay. Moreover, Mac reunites with producer Khayree, who is said to be producing the whole effort. Seventeen years ago, Khayree produced Mac's Young Black Brotha Records debut, ''Illegal Business?''. It has been 12 years since the Bay Area pair worked together.

Discography

Studio albums

1993: ''Illegal Business?''

1996: ''Untouchable''

1999: ''Illegal Business? 2000''

1999: ''Mallennium''

2000: ''Beware of Those'' (with JT the Bigga Figga)

2001: ''Immaculate''

2002: ''Mackin Speaks Louder Than Words''

2004: ''Illegal Game'' (with JT the Bigga Figga)''

2004: ''The Macuscripts, Vol. 1''

2005: ''The Macuscripts, Vol. 2''

2005: ''The Macuscripts, Vol. 3''

2005: ''The Macuscripts, Vol. 4''

2005: ''Da U.S. Open'' (with Mac Dre)

2006: ''Thizziana Stoned and the Temple of Shrooms''

2009: ''Mac to the Future''

2011: ''The Rebellion Against All There Is''

Singles & EPs

1994: ''Sic Wit Tis''

1994: ''Ghetto Theme''

1996: ''Get Right''

1999: ''Wide Open'' (CD/Cassette Single)

References

Category:Rappers from the San Francisco Bay Area Category:African American rappers Category:Living people

it:Mac Mall fi:Mac Mall