28 Comments
Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

I think you forgot to mention where people can buy Lucky Dog Sake juice boxes.

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Mar 16Liked by Gary Shteyngart

You need to get back at the person who made the mistake. Take over her Twitter account and tweet something of Edinborough being in northern France. (I'm not sure the Scottish would mind that much though)

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I'm so sorry, Gary. This is one reason I left Twitter, that dogpiles like these are what too many users live for.

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Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

If you ever need an apology, call on me. My expressions of regret require no regrettable act.

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Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

I’m beginning to think that unless you explicitly need twitter for your job, it’s not worth it for anyone of note to be on.

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Beware the Ides of March...and Twitter trolls. This actually sounds like the start of a new novel!! Hint intended. Has the same feel as Super, Sad...

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I’m sorry nobody apologised to you. And I’m sorry one of my fellow country people made such a basic geographical error.

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Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

Giving folks the benefit of the doubt, forgiving a mistake, overlooking an offense -- we have to practice those in our personal lives, lest we become bitter pharisees. Would be good to see more of that in the media landscape too: EVERYONE benefits.

Oh, also -- my beverage tally so far this week: 0.

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Mar 16Liked by Gary Shteyngart

Dear Gary, I do apologize for turning your life upside down. My irritation was directed at a glossy travel magazine that hires headline writers who don't know -- or even check -- basic geography. Such a mistake would never be made about a European country. Your only mistake was recommending La Docena, where the food was once delicious and is now, sadly, tasteless. (And I was never a bureau chief, just a reporter here in CDMX.) Hope your life is turned right side up now. Best, Elisabeth

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Mar 16Liked by Gary Shteyngart

Headlines are a nightmare. On a music site where I submitted an article around a list of my favourite songs by a particular band, somebody wrote a headline that included the phrase 'literate songwriter'. It was as though everyone on earth needed to let me know just how stupid I was for suggesting that a songwriter was literate. Even though I hadn't. One dude in Glastonbury (I know) sent me two long emails about how I was the problem etc etc. Hang in there, Gary!

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It's one of the problems with Twitter. People post stuff and don't read the replies. Probably nobody bothered to read your explanations.

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Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

I follow some one who quoted that tweet and I landed here ...As a Mexican and a chilanga who had to explain to my New Yorker niece that Mexico was part of North America and not South America as her teacher had told her, I was also a bit afraid of get her in trouble with said teacher or the school system, I understood the outrage and unwillingness to apologize. It's not personal but an example of something systematic not only in the US but also in Europe.

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Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

sorry to hear about this; as a writer and editor, I am very sympathetic. take care, Gary.

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Mar 15Liked by Gary Shteyngart

wait, what drug??

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Mar 18Liked by Gary Shteyngart

As a European, if I may, I'd like to point out that continents are a very arbitrary thing and are not divided the same way.

In my country, there is only one American continent (going from roughly the North Pole to Tierra del Fuego) and if you really want to divide, Mexico really could go either way between North or Central America, depending on whether you decide to divide in two: North and South (in that case, I'd say that the divide is Panama) or if you add a Central (in that case, Mexico does belong to it in my perspective).

I'm not sure how people do in Britain, but I wouldn't be surprised if the British editor didn't make a mistake at all, but just used a British perspective on the division of these continents.

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Whoever made that mistake needs to be “made redundant,” as they say. Also, what strain of weed is best for recuperating from Twitter attacks?

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