in reply to Re: The view from Barnes & Noble
in thread The view from Barnes & Noble

It was a (fairly lame) joke. I just meant that I found it odd to put JavaScript in the heavy duty section, as opposed to the web section or languages section. So the snarkiness of the sic was directed at that shelving choice rather than someone's words (as when you sic a quotation or something your editing).

Frankly, I suspect JavaScript goes there for the simple reason that Java went there, and most people have no idea that they aren't the same thing.

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Re^3: The view from Barnes & Noble
by sasdrtx (Friar) on Oct 09, 2008 at 18:58 UTC

    sic properly refers only to a misspelled or otherwise incorrect word, which you are leaving uncorrected for some reason (usually quotation). An ironic usage would be one where you want to imply that some word is misspelled or otherwise incorrect, even though it isn't. Doesn't make much sense beyond that.

    Anyway, ++ for the rest of your post.


    sas
[reply]
      All due respect, but I disagree. The word sic is a Latin adverb meaning 'thus, in this manner, in this way'. There is nothing in the word that intrinsically points to language or quotation.

      Yes, the most common use of sic in English refers to quoted words. The speaker feels the quotation has some sort of mistake, and the sic says, "The person I'm quoting wrote, spelled or spoke in this way, so blame that person for the mistake(s) in it."

      However, it's a perfectly natural extension to use the word in a parallel fashion for a (perceived) non-linguistic faux-pas. To belabor a very, very weak joke, when I used it above, I meant "C, C++, Java, JavaScript - yes, they shelved JavaScript in this way, which I find silly, but take it up with them." I stand by the usage.

      I'm beginning to wonder if this is relevant (for all of us): xkcd://386

[reply]
        I'm beginning to wonder if this is relevant (for all of us): xkcd://386

        No, I'm sorry but you're just plain wrong. It's not in the slightest bit relevant.

        ;)

[reply]
        All due respect, but I disagree. The word sic is a Latin adverb meaning 'thus, in this manner, in this way'. There is nothing in the word that intrinsically points to language or quotation.
        And when using the Latin word "sic" in English writing it is generally understood to indicate a decision to quote something verbatim in lieu of correcting a percieved mistake. If you want to write messages in Latin then I suppose we should hold you to also writing Perl in Latin as well!! ;-)

        Elda Taluta; Sarks Sark; Ark Arks
[reply]
      I took it as a joke to mean that "JavaScript" is misspelled, as it should be "ECMAScript" and is mis-written to contain the string "Java" in its name (having little to do with Java). Likewise, in the Daily Mail quote moritz pointed out I understood the "sic" to mean that someone took issue with calling the Daily Mail a "newspaper" rather than just a "paper" or a "tabloid".
[reply]

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