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The following passage comes from The American Journey (sixth edition), page 156. It's a quote of George F. Regas, addressing President George W. Bush (not in person). Notice the [sic] after the word preemptive, indicating some kind of misuse of the word or other kind of error.

But what's the error?

I googled this quote and got many hits. Other than the cited book, none use [sic].

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How is this related to the English language? – Luke Sep 22 '12 at 22:06
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@Marthaª It is not about the English language itself, but the context. Secondly, it is way too localized. – Luke Sep 22 '12 at 22:10
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@Luke: I fail to see your distinction. This question is asking what error there is in a particular passage. How is that not totally 100% absolutely on topic? Too localized, I could maybe see (except this is an interesting question that might help others); except that would be worth a close vote at worst, not all this downvote hate. – Marthaª Sep 22 '12 at 22:13
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After looking at the answers and comments so far, I'm afraid I have to close this as "not constructive". Only the author himself can tell for sure why the sic is there. Three theories so far, all equally valid for all we know. I will even provide a fourth one for good measure: "I recommend just throwing sic in randomly when quoting one's enemies. Nobody will want to admit they don't know why it is there, and the damage is done." – RegDwighт♦ Sep 22 '12 at 22:23
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@I.J.Kennedy For those of us who are interested in the answer to this ("too localised") question, what is it? – Billy Oct 17 '12 at 2:53
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2 Answers

up vote 4 down vote

The only thing I can think of is that the editorial guidelines of this publication dictate a hyphen in pre-emptive. But if so, that's something they ought to silently add, not mark with [sic].

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I concur. It's a quote of what the minister imagined Jesus saying (how many levels of reported speech is that?) and adding a hyphen in order to match house style doesn't change the quote. [sic] is an unnecessary affectation which simply causes readers to ask about it -- exactly as here. – Andrew Leach Sep 22 '12 at 22:15
I don't think that could be it, because the word occurred in an orally delivered sermon, not in a piece of writing. – I. J. Kennedy Sep 23 '12 at 0:22
up vote 3 down vote

Merriam-Webster defines preemptive as:

being or relating to a first military strike made to gain an advantage when a strike by the enemy is believed imminent

The author is highlighting preemptive to make the point, in the context of his thesis about the unpopularity of the wars in Vietnam and Iraq, that a strike by Iraq against the US was not imminent (since Iraq lacked both the means and the inclination).

He's using [sic] to mock the use of preemptive in association with Bush's doctrine, and thus mocking Bush's doctrine overall.

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I wondered if the authors might be making an editorial comment, but they are all professional scholars, and the book is a high school history text, so it seemed unlikely. – I. J. Kennedy Sep 22 '12 at 23:30
Hmm. It would be puzzling to see [sic] used to indicate that the editor thought preemptive to be in error, given that both Webster's and the Chicago Manual advocate the closed compound. – Gnawme Sep 23 '12 at 2:40
Usually, Preemptive attack means one that is to occur before the enemy strikes first. What was, in all likehood, the chance that Iraq would start a war against the USA? What event was being preempted by this attack? – SF. Oct 17 '12 at 11:08
@SF. My point (and Regas's) precisely. – Gnawme Oct 17 '12 at 21:47

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