[blackshoe]

The word "sic" is commonly used in British and American writing to indicate that material quoted is quoted exactly as in the original. In both British and American usage it is pronounced with a short i, like "sick". In the original Latin, however, it is pronounced with a long i, like one of our favorite bridge words, "psych".

[kenberg]

blackshoe, on 2014-September-05, 15:09, said:

The word "sic" is commonly used in British and American writing to indicate that material quoted is quoted exactly as in the original. In both British and American usage it is pronounced with a short i, like "sick". In the original Latin, however, it is pronounced with a long i, like one of our favorite bridge words, "psych".

And, as an English major once explained, the v in vini vidi vice is pronounced like a w. Some Somehow an image of Caesar saying Weenie Weedie Weekie is tough to conjure up.

[Winstonm]

kenberg, on 2014-September-05, 16:47, said:

And, as an English major once explained, the v in vini vidi vice is pronounced like a w. Some Somehow an image of Caesar saying Weenie Weedie Weekie is tough to conjure up.

That's sic!

[kenberg]

Winstonm, on 2014-September-05, 17:11, said:

That's sic!

I see by the Wik that this is only for Classical Latin. But hey, that's me.

[Siegmund]

Worse than useless, when it is, in fact, false.

A Latin long i would sound like "seek". To sound like the bridge word it would have had to be spelled "saec."

[blackshoe]

Siegmund, on 2014-September-05, 18:20, said:

Worse than useless, when it is, in fact, false.

A Latin long i would sound like "seek". To sound like the bridge word it would have had to be spelled "saec."

Well, obviously I am not a Latin scholar. I took what I read at face value. Sue me.

[kenberg]

I'm still working on English. I gather from reading various reasonably literate pieces that "smarter then me", "faster than me" etc is now acceptable English. Growing up, it was "smarter than I" with the presumed but unstated conclusion "smarter than I am". A predicate nominative, so I was taught, or at least so I recall. Mrs. Kinne taught me this, but she is no doubt long dead. A toast to her in memory.

[gordontd]

kenberg, on 2014-September-05, 16:47, said:

And, as an English major once explained, the v in vini vidi vice is pronounced like a w. Some Somehow an image of Caesar saying Weenie Weedie Weekie is tough to conjure up.

As I was taught, the "c" is pronounced as in Italian, so actually "weechay".

[barmar]

blackshoe, on 2014-September-05, 15:09, said:

The word "sic" is commonly used in British and American writing to indicate that material quoted is quoted exactly as in the original. In both British and American usage it is pronounced with a short i, like "sick". In the original Latin, however, it is pronounced with a long i, like one of our favorite bridge words, "psych".

I'm not sure I've ever actually heard anyone use this term when speaking. The only occasion where I can imagine it would be something like an audiobook of a book that includes such a quotation.

[Siegmund]

You've been going to the wrong theaters if you've never heard anyone shout "sic semper tyrannis!"

(In the nitpicks department: I wasn't saying it wasn't a long i, just that long-i doesn't sound like an English long i, in just about every other language I can pronounce. And it is veni -- so sounds like waynie rather then weenie )

[blackshoe]

barmar, on 2014-September-06, 17:57, said:

I'm not sure I've ever actually heard anyone use this term when speaking. The only occasion where I can imagine it would be something like an audiobook of a book that includes such a quotation.

Probably not, but when I read words, I hear them spoken in my head. Is that unusual?

[barmar]

Siegmund, on 2014-September-06, 22:49, said:

You've been going to the wrong theaters if you've never heard anyone shout "sic semper tyrannis!"

Haven't been to Ford's Theatre in a long time.

But I was thinking of the word as used in brackets within a quotation. I didn't even make the association with the word when used in Latin phrases like that.

[barmar]

blackshoe, on 2014-September-06, 23:22, said:

Probably not, but when I read words, I hear them spoken in my head. Is that unusual?

Probably not. Do you get into an argument with the voice over the proper pronunciation? Then it may be time to start worrying.

[blackshoe]

barmar, on 2014-September-07, 15:25, said:

Probably not. Do you get into an argument with the voice over the proper pronunciation? Then it may be time to start worrying.

ROFL! Point taken!

[Trinidad]

kenberg, on 2014-September-06, 05:59, said:

I'm still working on English. I gather from reading various reasonably literate pieces that "smarter then me", "faster than me" etc is now acceptable English. Growing up, it was "smarter than I" with the presumed but unstated conclusion "smarter than I am". A predicate nominative, so I was taught, or at least so I recall. Mrs. Kinne taught me this, but she is no doubt long dead. A toast to her in memory.

"He threw him the ball faster than me." seems correct English to me. But it means something different from "He threw him the ball faster than I.".

Just $0.02 from a non-native speaker.

Rik

[helene_t]

Trinidad, on 2014-September-08, 09:18, said:

"He threw him the ball faster than me." seems correct English to me. But it means something different from "He threw him the ball faster than I.".

Yes but if you want to make it clear it is probably better to say "he threw the ball faster to him than to me" or some such.

[helene_t]

I once wrote in the newsgroup sci.lang that my two-years old nephew pronounced the word "spell" as "pell" which I found interesting because to me, "spell" without the s-sound becomes "bell", since "spell" is unaspirated.

I posted that from a Singaporian account. Some linguist commented that I, as a Chinese (sic) define the distinction between P and B on the basis of aspiration, but in European languages the difference is in voice, not aspiration. SP is unvoiced like P.

I found this intersting. I can't hear the difference between voiced and unvoiced sounds so I rely on aspiration to distinguish P/B and D/T. But that is apparently un-European.

[Trinidad]

helene_t, on 2014-September-08, 09:24, said:

Yes but if you want to make it clear it is probably better to say "he threw the ball faster to him than to me" or some such.

Sure. I merely meant to point out that "faster than me" is not wrong by definition... not even according to Ken's teacher's definition. It just means something else than "faster than I".

And, yes, adding a preposition makes the phrase clearer, but grammatically the preposition isn't needed.

Rik

[blackshoe]

"He threw the ball faster than [he threw] me".

[mycroft]

Quote

The Britons, however, who of course still used the old pronunciation, understanding him to have called them “Weeny, Weedy and Weaky,” lost heart and gave up the struggle, thinking that he had already divided them All into Three Parts.

-- 1066 and All That.