I've never figured this out or learned what (sic) means. I've learned what i.e. means and when to use it versus using e.g., and lots of other rules that many people don't care about. However, I've never, ever found out what (sic) means. I think it refers to something that's not quite a pun, but intended to be a witty joke. Unfortunately, I've never found those comments that included the (sic) to be witty or funny which is why I haven't been able to figure out the proper way to use (sic) in my own writing.

If I did use (sic) in my own writing, perhaps it would be perceived as pretentious. When I was younger, peers would make fun of my reliance on big words, which was a result of me having to read scientific journals and write reports as a biology major. Now, people seem to have been corrupted by instant messaging, text messaging, and generally poor handwriting and grammar. I don't even know if they read books, magazines or lengthier articles. The fact they can call each other up on a mobile phone means they have less reason to make sure their written skills are in good order.

I'm encountering a new dialect which relies on acronyms from videogames such as World Of Warcraft. AFK means "away from keyboard," and ATM means "at the moment." Even though some games allow players to directly voice-chat with each other, many use the keyboard-chat and they make the assumption that people who do not play their games know how their special language works.

I've also seen comments such as "sigh" prefixed with a slash mark: /sigh or /cough and /laughs. These are all directly based on World of Warcraft culture. I try to point out to people who use it on me that I have no idea what they're talking about in the hopes they can just speak to me in POE, plain old english.