A backronym is an acronym formed from an already existing word by expanding its letters into the words of a phrase. Backronyms may be invented with either serious or humorous intent, or they may be a type of false etymology or folk etymology . The word is a portmanteau of back and acronym .
25-646: Adelaide Cricket Club or The Buffalos [ sic ] is a semi-professional cricket club in Adelaide , South Australia . It competes in the South Australian Grade Cricket League , which is administered by the South Australian Cricket Association (SACA). The Adelaide Cricket Club was formed on 12 September 1905. Many great names of Australian and South Australian cricket have played for
50-529: A sic' , emerged in 1889, E. Belfort Bax 's work in The Ethics of Socialism being an early example. On occasion, sic has been misidentified as an acronym (and therefore sometimes misspelled with periods): s.i.c. is said to stand for "spelled/said in copy/context", "spelling is correct", "spelled incorrectly", and other such folk etymology phrases. These are all incorrect and are simply backronyms from sic . Use of sic greatly increased in
75-441: A parenthetical sentence only when used after a complete sentence, like so: ( Sic. ) Some guides, including The Chicago Manual of Style , recommend "quiet copy-editing " (unless where inappropriate or uncertain) instead of inserting a bracketed sic , such as by substituting in brackets the correct word in place of the incorrect word or by simply replacing an incorrect spelling with the correct one. Alternatively, to show both
100-406: A quotation did not arise from editorial errors in the transcription, but are intentionally reproduced as they appear in the source text being quoted; thus, sic is placed inside brackets to indicate it is not part of the quotation. Sic can also be used derisively to direct the reader's attention to the writer's spelling mistakes and erroneous logic, or to show disapproval of the content or form of
125-411: A quotation indicates that the quoted matter has been transcribed or translated as found in the source text, including erroneous, archaic, or unusual spelling, punctuation , and grammar . Sic also applies to any surprising assertion, faulty reasoning, or other matter that might be interpreted as an error of transcription . The typical editorial usage of Sic is to inform the reader that any errors in
150-492: Is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . This article about Adelaide is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Sic We are prepared, under appropriate circumstances, to provide information bearing on the credibly [ sic ] and veracity of any such source. Irin Carmon quoting a law firm The Latin adverb sic ( / s ɪ k / ; thus , so , and in this manner ) inserted after
175-403: Is most often inserted into quoted or reprinted material to indicate meticulous accuracy in reproducing the preceding text, despite appearances to the reader of an incorrect or unusual orthography ( spelling , punctuation , grammar, syntax, fact, logic, etc.). Several usage guides recommend that a bracketed sic be used primarily as an aid to the reader, not as an indicator of disagreement with
200-440: Is probably of Romani origin but commonly believed to be a backronym of "council-housed and violent". Similarly, the distress signal SOS is often believed to be an abbreviation for "save our ship" or "save our souls" but was chosen because it has a simple and unmistakable Morse code representation – three dots, three dashes, and three dots, sent without any pauses between characters. More recent examples include
225-568: The James Bond franchise. For example, the Amber Alert missing-child program was named after Amber Hagerman , a nine-year-old girl who was abducted and murdered in 1996. Officials later publicized the backronym "America's Missing: Broadcast Emergency Response". An example of a backronym as a mnemonic is the Apgar score , used to assess the health of newborn babies. The rating system
250-664: The Adelaide Cricket Club: Badcock, Causby, Cunningham , Gillespie , Grimmett , Giffen , Hogg , Hammond, Nobes, Sincock and Woodcock have played. International Test Cricketers who have played for Adelaide include Chauhan, Greenidge , Mendis and White. All in all the Adelaide Cricket Club has provided the State with 64 representatives, more than any other grade Club. Record breaking South Australian Jockey John McGowan (see Brooklyn Park )
275-549: The backronym "everyone deserves a game above reproach". Many United States Congress bills have backronyms as their names; examples include the USA PATRIOT Act (Uniting and Strengthening America by Providing Appropriate Tools Required to Intercept and Obstruct Terrorism Act) of 2001, and the DREAM Act (Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors Act). Sometimes a backronym is reputed to have been used in
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#1732793832850300-478: The brand name Adidas , named after company founder Adolf "Adi" Dassler but falsely believed to be an acronym for "all day I dream about sport". The word Wiki is said to stand for "what I know is", but in fact is derived from the Hawaiian phrase wiki-wiki meaning 'fast'. Yahoo! , sometimes claimed to mean "yet another hierarchical officious oracle", in fact was chosen because Yahoo's founders liked
325-413: The correct form when using recte . A third alternative is to follow an error with sic , a comma or colon, "read", and the correct reading, all within square brackets, as in the following example: Item 26 - 'Plan of space alongside Evinghews [sic: read Evening News] Printing Works and overlooked by St. Giles House University Hall', [Edinburgh] Backronym A normal acronym is a word derived from
350-499: The following example from Fred Rodell 's 1955 book Nine Men : [I]n 1951, it was the blessing bestowed on Judge Harold Medina 's prosecution [ sic ] of the eleven so-called 'top native Communists,' which blessing meant giving the Smith Act the judicial nod of constitutionality. Where sic follows the quotation, it takes brackets : [ sic ]. The word sic is often treated as a loanword that does not require italics, and
375-568: The formation of the original word, and amounts to a false etymology or an urban legend . Acronyms were rare in the English language before the 1930s, and most etymologies of common words or phrases that suggest origin from an acronym are false. Examples include posh , an adjective describing stylish items or members of the upper class. A popular story derives the word as an acronym from "port out, starboard home", referring to 19th-century first-class cabins on ocean liners , which were shaded from
400-478: The initial letters of the words of a phrase, such as radar from "radio detection and ranging". By contrast, a backronym is "an acronym deliberately formed from a phrase whose initial letters spell out a particular word or words, either to create a memorable name or as a fanciful explanation of a word's origin". Many fictional espionage organizations are backronyms, such as SPECTRE (special executive for counterintelligence, terrorism, revenge and extortion) from
425-602: The material. In the English language, the Latin adverb sic is used as an adverb, and derivatively as a noun and as a verb. The adverb sic , meaning 'intentionally so written', first appeared in English c. 1856 . It is derived from the Latin adverb sīc , which means 'so', 'thus', 'in this manner'. According to the Oxford English Dictionary , the verbal form of sic , meaning 'to mark with
450-639: The mid-20th century. For example, in United States state-court opinions before 1944, sic appeared 1,239 times in the Westlaw database; in those from 1945 to 1990, it appeared 69,168 times, over 55 times as many. Its use as a form of ridicule has been cited as a major factor in this increase. The immoderate use of sic has created some controversy, leading some editors, including bibliographical scholar Simon Nowell-Smith and literary critic Leon Edel , to speak out against it. The bracketed form [ sic ]
475-552: The original and the suggested correction (as they often are in palaeography ), one may give the actual form, followed by recte , then the correct form, in brackets. The Latin adverb recte means rightly . An Iraqi battalion has consumed [ recte assumed] control of the former American military base, and our forces are now about 40 minutes outside the city. According to the Journal of Seventeenth-Century Music Style Sheet , there should be no punctuation, for example no colon, before
500-420: The source. Sic may show that an uncommon or archaic expression is reported faithfully, such as when quoting the U.S. Constitution : "The House of Representatives shall chuse [ sic ] their Speaker ..." However, several writing guidebooks discourage its use with regard to dialect, such as in cases of American and British English spelling differences . The appearance of a bracketed sic after
525-550: The style manuals of New Zealand, Australian and British media outlets generally do not require italicisation. However, italicization is common in the United States, where authorities including APA Style insist upon it. Because sic is not an abbreviation, placing a full stop /period inside the brackets after the word sic is erroneous, although the California Style Manual suggests styling it as
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#1732793832850550-401: The sun on outbound voyages east (e.g. from Britain to India ) and homeward voyages west. The word's actual etymology is unknown, but more likely related to Romani påš xåra ('half-penny') or to Urdu (borrowed from Persian ) safed-pōśh ('white robes'), a term for wealthy people. Another example is the word chav , which is a derogatory term for a working-class youth. This word
575-440: The word analyse in a book review led Bryan A. Garner to comment, "all the quoter (or overzealous editor) [sic] demonstrated was ignorance of British usage". Occasionally a writer places [ sic ] after their own words, to indicate that the language has been chosen deliberately for special effect, especially where the writer's ironic meaning may otherwise be unclear. Bryan A. Garner dubbed this use of sic "ironic", providing
600-557: Was also a long term player and B Grade Captain of the club. The club plays its Senior Home Games at Glandore Oval, Glandore, South Australia . Other grounds used by the club include Park 23 and Immanuel College. Today the club fields four senior men's teams and four junior boy's teams in the South Australian Cricket Association competition. This article about a cricket team in Australia
625-694: Was devised by and named after Virginia Apgar . Ten years after the initial publication, the backronym APGAR was coined in the US as a mnemonic learning aid: appearance, pulse, grimace, activity, and respiration. Another example is the American Contract Bridge League's tools to address cheating in online bridge games. EDGAR was originally named for Edgar Kaplan, whose many contributions to the game included groundbreaking efforts to reduce illegal partnership communication. The new EDGAR tools expected to debut in early 2024 have been launched with
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