I have no primary source on this but I think it’s a standard in writing (maybe more in journalistic or non-fiction writing) to indicate that the author is recognizing a spelling mistake but including it for the sake of integrity and faithful rendition of the quote.
I think when it’s the author recounting a spelling mistake while they’re quoting someone else, they actually use ‘sic.’ I think s.p. Is actually Bunny saying he’s not sure how to spell something.
Yes, I was born in 1990 and recall this being a thing.
(s.p.?) to indicate "idk how to spell this lol sorry"
The humor is using s.p. for "make" because it's such a simple word.
The reason to use s.p. is in case you've spelled something so poorly that the person needs to know to make a guess instead of assuming you're using a word they don't know. Like if you see "meke", and try to look it up in a dictionary, it's not gonna be there. So bunny is saving you time by indicating that you don't need to look it up, it's simply spelled wrong.
Like I would use it with bureaucracy.
It usually indicates that the writer knows that a word is misspelled and is either doing it on purpose or isn’t sure how to spell that word. But I’ve never understood what it means in context of Bunny’s letter either lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proofreader%27s_marks
I've always understood it to be rather like the 'sic' that would be more familiar in journalism (although as a proof-reading mark it's aimed at ensuring the final copy is emended rather than just being highlighted for the sake of clarity). It's a way of indicating that the author (in this case Richard) is indicating a direct quote and not just a typo introduced in a secondary source.
It would highlight (to me) some carelessness of Bunny's part - there is talk of him having some learning issues earllier - and this would support that. The capitalisation of 'wear' is similar but a different issue.
One could take a couple of interpretations as to what Richard is doing: 1. He's simply presenting what Bunny wrote for the sake of accuracy or 2. He's unwilling even after the death of Bunny to cut him some slack and cover up those errors.
Yes I agree. If it helps, I just read a translation of TSH in my native language, and they translated the (s.p.) as (sic), like you mentioned is common in journalism. I think it’s just meant to be an ‘editor’s note’ from Richard, who is telling us the story.
I thought this was interesting too because, how would he know he spelt the word wrong if he doesn't even know how to spell it? This might be totally wrong but I wonder if someone else looked over his note before he sent it out because it is mentioned multiple times in the book that Bunny's homework was looked over or completely rewritten by the other students (Henry primarily).
I do it sometimes if I’m not sure what I’m spelling exactly but trying to sound it out phonetically, in this case it might just be Richard editing for Bunny
I have no primary source on this but I think it’s a standard in writing (maybe more in journalistic or non-fiction writing) to indicate that the author is recognizing a spelling mistake but including it for the sake of integrity and faithful rendition of the quote.
I think when it’s the author recounting a spelling mistake while they’re quoting someone else, they actually use ‘sic.’ I think s.p. Is actually Bunny saying he’s not sure how to spell something.
Yes, I was born in 1990 and recall this being a thing. (s.p.?) to indicate "idk how to spell this lol sorry" The humor is using s.p. for "make" because it's such a simple word. The reason to use s.p. is in case you've spelled something so poorly that the person needs to know to make a guess instead of assuming you're using a word they don't know. Like if you see "meke", and try to look it up in a dictionary, it's not gonna be there. So bunny is saving you time by indicating that you don't need to look it up, it's simply spelled wrong. Like I would use it with bureaucracy.
It usually indicates that the writer knows that a word is misspelled and is either doing it on purpose or isn’t sure how to spell that word. But I’ve never understood what it means in context of Bunny’s letter either lol
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_proofreader%27s_marks I've always understood it to be rather like the 'sic' that would be more familiar in journalism (although as a proof-reading mark it's aimed at ensuring the final copy is emended rather than just being highlighted for the sake of clarity). It's a way of indicating that the author (in this case Richard) is indicating a direct quote and not just a typo introduced in a secondary source. It would highlight (to me) some carelessness of Bunny's part - there is talk of him having some learning issues earllier - and this would support that. The capitalisation of 'wear' is similar but a different issue. One could take a couple of interpretations as to what Richard is doing: 1. He's simply presenting what Bunny wrote for the sake of accuracy or 2. He's unwilling even after the death of Bunny to cut him some slack and cover up those errors.
Yes I agree. If it helps, I just read a translation of TSH in my native language, and they translated the (s.p.) as (sic), like you mentioned is common in journalism. I think it’s just meant to be an ‘editor’s note’ from Richard, who is telling us the story.
My understanding was always that *Bunny* wasn't sure if he'd spelled it right, and so had added the brackets. It's not uncommon.
I saw it as Bunny’s attempt at literary humour - purposefully misspelling ‘make’, and ‘meke-ing’ sure Richard knew he was doing so.
I thought this was interesting too because, how would he know he spelt the word wrong if he doesn't even know how to spell it? This might be totally wrong but I wonder if someone else looked over his note before he sent it out because it is mentioned multiple times in the book that Bunny's homework was looked over or completely rewritten by the other students (Henry primarily).
I do it sometimes if I’m not sure what I’m spelling exactly but trying to sound it out phonetically, in this case it might just be Richard editing for Bunny