English lesson.

[Lorns]

What does (sic ) mean? I often see it used on forums in papers and magazines but never quite understood it. Seeing as you lot are self appointed proper English and Grammar experts i thought i'd ask you as you'd be able to explain it in Lorna language.

[marksi]

From Dictionary.com

adverb Latin. so; thus: usually written parenthetically to denote that a word, phrase, passage, etc., that may appear strange or incorrect has been written intentionally or has been quoted verbatim: He signed his name as e. e. cummings (sic).

[Lorns]

my head hurts!

[Gavin Scott]

my head hurts!

It just means "as written". If I were quoting someone who mis-spelled or wrote something silly or odd, writing (sic) after it shows that I know there is a mistake there, and I'm typing it exactly as I read it.

Markymark is using it in the Bernard Manning thread on TVF because I called Michael Winner fat when in fact he is quite unwell and consequently has lost all his weight.

[Lorns]

Oh i geddit now.

See Gav speaks Lorna language.

[Nick Harvey]

Yes, Gavin's got the current meaning of it dead on.

However, I've got this nasty niggle going round in the back of my brain, that it, literally, used to stand for three Latin words, something like "sid info cwandum".

I can't find any proof of that in any reference book on my shelf, here, though.

Has anyone else ever heard that, or am I completely off my trolley again?

[Stuart*]

Yes, Gavin's got the current meaning of it dead on.

However, I've got this nasty niggle going round in the back of my brain, that it, literally, used to stand for three Latin words, something like "sid info cwandum".

I can't find any proof of that in any reference book on my shelf, here, though.

Has anyone else ever heard that, or am I completely off my trolley again?

You are indeed "off your trolley" Mr H. I seem to remember from by days forced to learn Latin that sic does actually mean "thus" and is a word in itself rather than an abbreviation (such as QED - quad erat demonstrandum - which became adopted in English as a meaning in its own right simply as the abbreviation).

Of course, really we should all place (sic) after quoting 623058 to be correct.

EDIT - there is no "w" in the latin alphabet, so "cwandum" could not be a word in that language.

[Nick Harvey]

Thanks for that, Mr Plymouth.

I've a feeling it could have been QED which I was mixing it up with.

As for the "w", that's a great pity, isn't it? Especially as "cwandum" sounds like such an excellently Latin word.

[Stuart*]

As for the "w", that's a great pity, isn't it? Especially as "cwandum" sounds like such an excellently Latin word.

It could indeed have been pronounced "cwandum" since Vs were pronounced as Ws (hense Via [street] was pronounced Wee-ah) so no need for a "W" at all.

However, when I googled CVANDUM it's suggestion was CONDOM!

[Lorns]

Can we let this thread die now please as my head is beginning to really hurt.
I found the answer to my question.

[Stuart*]

Well it serves you right for asking complex questions Lorna. Have another glass of red wine - your head won't hurt so much (until morning!)