The other day, a friend told me that he feels bad complaining to
me because I never complain.
And that’s not the first time I’ve heard that complaint from a
friend.
Of course, I do complain sometimes, but I have to admit that I am
one of those annoyingly optimistic people. I tend to believe that everything
works out, that everything happens for a reason, that we are lucky because
other people have it worse, blah blah blah. Basically, I’m like the least
satisfying person to vent to because I am always trying to make you see the
silver lining or help you fix the situation when all you really want to do is bitch.
Because of my annoying optimism, I tend to believe that everyone’s
problems are solvable. When someone tells me about a problem they are having,
my immediate reaction is to want to try to fix it. You hate your job; let me
search Monster.com all night and find you a new one. You’re unsatisfied with
your weight; I’ll wake up extra early and go running with you. You are having a
fight with your boyfriend; let’s all three sit down and talk about it. You’re having
problems in the bedroom; let’s have a threesome and I’ll give you feedback.
I KNOW that’s not healthy behavior; I know it’s called co-dependence.
This desire to fix everyone’s
problems should make it hard for me to use sic. We use sic when we include
quoted material in our writing and the quoted material contains grammar,
spelling or punctuation errors. The sic basically tells the reader that the error
is not ours; it’s the other person’s.
If I were to include the following
quote from my student’s essay in my own writing, this is how I would use sic:
“I use [sic] to have to wear my sisters [sic] hammy [sic] downs.”
Here’s another example using an email:
“i [sic] am in your english [sic] class on monday [sic].
I am attaching the HW [sic] due tomorrow. Hopefully you can except [sic] it
this way,[sic] if not i [sic] will also bring in a hard copy.”
You’d think I’d want to just fix their errors for them instead
of calling them out. But I don’t. Grammar is where I draw the line. I want to
shame my students into using proper grammar.
That’s healthier behavior, right?
The day when dangling participles stand erect, when subjects and
verbs agree, when Americans conjugate all night long. 
