What can I do instead of [sic]?

Question

I have a quote that has a misplaced "to":

... they will put you to back to sleep ...

It seems like I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place. I can either:

Just delete the mistaken "to" (then I would be deliberately misquoting them)
Put [sic] next to it (which looks unbelievably pedantic, especially since they write better than I do)

Is there a way around this?

In this universe, I see only 3 things you could possibly do regarding the mistake - (1) Leave it there (2) Correct it with [sic] (3) Correct it without sic .. I don't see how any other 'ways around this' exist. — JohnPhteven, Jan 08 '13 at 22:46
@Lucas That would garner more attention. I don't see why you can't just correct it, it is a trivial mistake anyway. — JohnPhteven, Jan 09 '13 at 06:38
@ZafarS that is what I did (I think, it was almost a year ago now). — Lucas, Jan 09 '13 at 15:42
@ZafarS I all fairness I had not accepted an answer indicating it (as I should have). — Lucas, Jan 18 '13 at 02:17

Gnawme · Accepted Answer · 2012-02-13T20:24:57.097

In its section on Quotations and Dialogue: Permissible changes to punctuation, capitalization, and spelling, the Chicago Manual of Style recommends:

Obvious typographic errors may be corrected silently (without comment or sic; see 13.59), unless the passage quoted is from an older work or a manuscript source where idiosyncrasies of spelling are generally preserved. If spelling and punctuation are modernized or altered for clarity, readers must be so informed in a note, in a preface, or elsewhere.

The choice is yours: make the correction and move on, or correct the text and flag it with a footnote[1].

However, the example you cite apparently isn't from an ancient manuscript, and your correction isn't modernizing it or altering it for clarity, so I would simply make the correction without comment.

[1] Like this one.

I saw "Chicago Manual of Style" mentioned on Wikipedia. Do you know what kind of publication it is aimed at? — Lucas, Feb 13 '12 at 19:46
Its subtitle is "The Essential Guide for Writers, Editors, and Publishers." It's intended to be a general reference for standard writing. — Gnawme, Feb 13 '12 at 19:53

score 2 · Answer 2 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 19:22

2

Depending on the context, you could also:

paraphrase the quote (still source it, but don't put quotes) (e.g. The author contends they will put you back to sleep)
make your own edits inside the quote (e.g. "they will put you ... back to sleep")
just ignore it (e.g. "they will put you back to sleep[1]") and make the clarification in the footnote

answered Feb 13 '12 at 19:22

Affable Geek

4,558

I can't really do the first, the second is doable but looks like I've skipped a whole chunk of text. – Lucas Feb 13 '12 at 19:26
The last one looks like the one - I love footnotes – Lucas Feb 13 '12 at 19:27

score 2 · Answer 3 · answered Feb 13 '12 at 23:54

2

If the error isn't relevant to the topic at hand, I don't think there's any harm in silently correcting it. Footnoting it just to say "there was a typo in the original" seems twice as intrusive as "[sic]".

answered Feb 13 '12 at 23:54

Russell Borogove

966

What can I do instead of [sic]?

3 Answers3

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