A Bigger Mistake?
Reader: I just received the November issue of your fine rag. I could not wait to read about the Ultimate Adventure. Ripping off the plastic sheet covering with great abandon there at the top of the cover page in bold orange letters "African Safari in New A Jeep JK." Now maybe the "A" just wanted to be standing next to the "Jeep" to catch a ride but in doing so it made for some bad grammer [sic] on the cover page. Not that it really matters though for if I wanted to brush up on my grammer [sic] skills I would go back to school. I would rather read the fine stories you and your fine staff procur [sic] for the reading enjoyment of your readers. Keep up the good work but try not to upset your old English teachers.
Mike Hess
Tremonton, UT
Editor: Wow, we sure enough did blow it. Simple as that. And you weren't the only reader to call us to task, but we really enjoyed your nice letter, even with the mistakes in grammar. In fact, that's why I added [sic] to your letter which is used to point out an incorrect or archaic spelling. Wikipedia.com has this explanation:
Sic is a Latin word meaning "thus," "so," or "just as that." In writing, it is italicized and placed within square brackets-[sic]-to indicate that an incorrect or unusual spelling, phrase, or other preceding quoted material is a verbatim reproduction of the quoted original and is not a transcription error.
This may be used either to show that an uncommon or archaic usage is reported faithfully (for instance, quoting the U.S. Constitution, "The House of Representatives shall chuse [sic] their Speaker...") or to highlight an error, often for the purpose of ridicule or irony (for instance, "Dan Quayle famously changed a student's spelling to 'potatoe' [sic]"), or otherwise, to quote accurately whilst maintaining the reputation of the person or organisation quoting its source.
In folk etymology, "sic" is sometimes erroneously thought to be an abbreviation of "spelling is correct," "same in copy," "spelled incorrectly," "spelling incompetent," "said in context," "stupid in context," or "spelling intentionally changed," to cite but a few backronyms.
Anyway, thanks for the letter, and don't let your English teacher see this!
Point Taken (Sort Of)
Screw the Subscribers?
Reader: Hi. I'm a subscriber of your magazine. I was happy with your magazine until a friend showed me stickers he had gotten out of your March issue. Why didn't the subscribers get the same deal? That sucked! Why do the subscribers get screwed? I'll be waiting for a reply.
Darcy Carruthers
Editor: Darcy, subscribers don't get screwed; because you are getting the magazine for about a buck each month, while the regular newsstand version goes for about $3.99. When we include a premium such as stickers or a booklet on the newsstand version, the price goes up another dollar or so. It may seem unfair, but the newsstand buyer is actually paying for what they get. When subscription rates hit $60 a year, maybe we'll start including that stuff as well.