[sic] of the day: earmarks

[Lynne Murphy]

--On 10 August 2006 19:36 +0100 Chris Waigl <chris at LASCRIBE.NET> wrote:

...
> FBI director Robert Mueller says: "This had the earmarks [sic] of an
> al-Qaida plot"
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/terrorism/story/0,,1841879,00.html
> ----
>
> I was a bit surprised about the [sic]'ing of "earmarks",

...

> Dialectal? Why did the Guardian use [sic]?

Not dialectal, but unfamiliar to the journalist, I'd say, and is assuming
that if it's an unfamiliar word in the mouth of an American, it must be
wrong!

Lynne, who really should go back to digest mode so that she isn't tempted
to answer every e-mail.



Dr M Lynne Murphy
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics and English Language
Arts B133
University of Sussex
Brighton BN1 9QN

phone: +44-(0)1273-678844
http://separatedbyacommonlanguage.blogspot.com

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