37 comments

  • Sacha GreifSacha Greif, 6 years ago

    I was going to write a snarky comment to point out how dumb that remark was, but then I remembered that I would've only wrote a text. It takes thousands of Apple employees, Internet service provider engineers, and chair makers to enable me to write a comment.

    22 points
    • jj moijj moi, 6 years ago

      Also Gutenberg, hieroglyphs, cuneiform scripts, chimpanzees, and everything in between to enable me to write a comment.

      2 points
  • Pablo StanleyPablo Stanley, 6 years ago

    Wow... This guy is a total douchebag.

    19 points
    • Daniel De LaneyDaniel De Laney, 6 years ago

      I don't think he meant it in a mean-spirited way, exactly. Erik has always been a little bit different. And he's 70 now, so there's that.

      7 points
      • Pablo StanleyPablo Stanley, 6 years ago

        You're right. I'm being too fast at judging him. It's hard to read someone's tone in writing, and more when it's not their first language.

        3 points
  • Nicholas BurroughsNicholas Burroughs, 6 years ago

    Erik has always been a bit of a playful asshole who is very peculiar and specific about the industry that he's in. If a group of designers (male or female) are standing around discussing the specifics of a piece and someone misuses a typographic term, Erik is most likely the one who would point it out without thinking about it. He's a self-described nerd who I believe impulsively will correct anyone's usage of industry terms. If you've ever seen an interview with him it could be clear he's a bit odd socially, but not mean-spirited.

    That is what happened here. Not mansplaining, not misogyny—just a peculiar man who can often come across as an asshole, coming across as an asshole.

    I'm someone who years ago would correct someone's usage of the word font, when they meant to say typeface. Or at least I believed they should be saying typeface instead of font in that situation. I learned to not care and let it go. I think Erik never reached that point, and it's still in his nature to correct word usage, especially as it relates to his industry.

    Are misogyny and mansplaining rampant on social media? Yes. Is this an occurrence of it which should be held high as an example? I do not believe so.

    13 points
    • Rhys MerrittRhys Merritt, 6 years ago

      Not mansplaining, not misogyny—just a peculiar man who can often come across as an asshole, coming across as an asshole

      In a comment earlier I mentioned that I backed out of the teen vogue article retweeted by Laura, the author of the book - as soon as I read the word "mansplaining"... You've articulated my feeling really well.

      0 points
  • Marc EdwardsMarc Edwards, 6 years ago

    Writing a book is such a huge endeavour. Well done, Laura. :)

    I’m all for criticism where appropriate, but I don’t see much benefit in Erik’s nitpick. Who says “I wrote a text”, anyway?

    10 points
  • Duke CavinskiDuke Cavinski, 6 years ago

    I would love to know how this fiasco made its way to her.

    8 points
  • Tareq IsmailTareq Ismail, 6 years ago

    He apologized multiple times.

    And the original author, Emily, has encouraged people to stop hating on him:

    5 points
  • Norm Sheeran, 6 years ago

    How ignorant. Nice to see a JK Rowling elbow drop!

    4 points
  • Sean LesterSean Lester, 6 years ago

    This is such a nonevent, I can't believe this is such a hot DN topic. What an incredible benign exchange.

    2 points
  • Felix LebedinzewFelix Lebedinzew, 6 years ago

    Actually his name is not "Speikerman", its "Spiekermann"…

    2 points
  • M. AppelmanM. Appelman, 6 years ago

    Twitter ¯_(ツ)_/¯

    2 points
  • Tyler RenfroTyler Renfro, 6 years ago

    What did the original say? Looks like it was deleted.

    1 point
    • Glenn McCombGlenn McComb, 6 years ago

      Yeah I'm wondering the same thing. Seems to have disappeared?

      0 points
    • Glenn McCombGlenn McComb, 6 years ago

      "On Friday, designer Laura Kalbag announced on Twitter that her first book was about to come out, Mashable reports. "If you missed it: I’ve written a book! It’s coming out very soon, sign up to get it first," she wrote. Then, in one of the most technical, nitpicky corrections we've ever seen, designer and typographer Erik Spiekermann replied, "Actually, you wrote a text. It took a few other people and skills to make that into a book."

      ... taken from here.

      0 points
  • Sol RaySol Ray, 6 years ago

    It's 2017, people still tweet?

    1 point
  • Kevin Healy, 6 years ago

    I'm really hoping his comment was tongue in cheek.

    1 point
  • John PJohn P, 6 years ago

    The sad reality of twitter is you get to see a lot of successful people for what they really are.

    0 points
  • Bevan StephensBevan Stephens, 6 years ago

    So good to see JK stepping in. Not that she needed to.

    It's gotta be great publicity for the book too.

    0 points