Hacker News new | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submit login

Out of curiosity, what's the idea behind including a "sic" parenthetical in an original unquoted piece of writing?



"Sic" means "that's not a mistake". When quoting, it often means "I didn't make the mistake, I faithfully copied somebody else's" but when writing your own stuff, it means "I didn't make a mistake; I meant to write that".


Ok, gotcha. I'm familiar with it (in the "sic erat scriptum" sense) for other people's writing but I've never seen it used in an original writing like that.

Not sure I get it here either, since most cities I can think of have multiple highways going through them, but thanks for the clarification. Always glad to expand my understanding of language.


It literally means "thus" which is just another way of saying "Yes, really!"




Consider applying for YC's Spring batch! Applications are open till Feb 11.

Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: