Dear Kaavya,
This is your Akka writing. The fact that you have never met me is immaterial; we are brown and we don’t live in the land our parents were born in—that alone means that you probably have relatives you’ve never met, just like I do, so Akka it easily is.
Paavum Kaavya (letÂ’s call you PK for short), there is something I want you to know, but before I disclose that, I have to admit a fault of which I am rather ashamed, a fault which I hope youÂ’ll forgive your imperfect Akka for.
I was jealous of you.
Just a bissel, but it was enough to make me loathe myself for a few minutes. Green looks fabulous on me, but envy surely does not flatter. Wait, don’t frown—I promise that once I was aware that I was being a twat, I earnestly called myself out on it and owned my jealousy. Long before I admitted that my “unlikely-fantasy-if-wishes-came-true” job was acting, I cherished what to me seemed an even more far-fetched aspiration: to write. Getting a book deal seemed like the greatest thing which could possibly happen to someone. To get paid to write? Wow. And that you did, with a stunning advance, which everyone bandies about ad nauseum, since it makes your “fall” all the more violent.
Sigh. How I wished that my parents had been savvy enough to enroll me in an Ivy-League-Prep-Camp-Thing. Where my counselor, who just happened to be a published author, would discover me as if I were some naïve starlet in a ‘40s era soda shop and then pluck me out of the sweaty, freaked-out ranks of cloned overachievers and marvel at my genuine uniqueness. My parents made me turn down Columbia for U.C. Davis. My parents are SO not your parents. Your parents gave you everything, including an inadvertent star-making opp that made me want to howl. You’re nearly half my age. It’s like watching your little sister get married before you do. It’s a little humiliating to endure, in this obsessed with chronological-milestones culture we share.
So, whenever this group blog of mine did a post about you, I’d look down and notice that my skin suddenly looked wayyy more olive than usual. Then I’d take a deep breath and tell myself that you deserved it. That you had hustled for it, working on your writing when in comparison, 17-year old me probably would’ve been brooding over which Smiths or Ultravox LP to spin next. My skin would go back to the shade my mother calls “irrantharam” and I’d exhale with relief. It felt good to be silently proud of you.
Here’s the thing my little PK: I still am. And I’m a little appalled at how many people are crowing elatedly about your alleged toppling. The first thing I thought of when I read the “Crimson” writing on the blog was that tragically accurate, snarktastic story about the pet shop with international crabs. You’re looking at me blankly. I’m sure you haven’t slept. Tut-tut. That won’t do. You know brown girls are predisposed to developing those nasty under eye circles. Take a benadryl, bachi. Your skin and, well, everything will thank you. Hell, take a nap right now. I’ll dispel your probably non-existent curiosity about crabs for you, like a wee bedtime story.
So, there was this pet store and it was renowned for carrying the most exhaustive selection of crabs aroundÂ…there were specimens from Mexico, Japan, RussiaÂ…almost everywhere, really. Each tank had a very secure looking cover to hold in the precious crab-cargo. All, but one, that is. Perplexed, a customer pointed to the open cage and asked the pet store proprietor why it didnÂ’t have a lid.
“Oh. Those are the crabs from India. A lid isn’t required, because as soon as one of them climbs up, all of the others furiously yank it back down. So they never get out.”
Look at you, almost asleep. And I haven’t even come to my main point yet! No wonder you got the book deal and I didn’t. We hadn’t met, so I have no way of knowing if we have this in common, but something tells me we just might—you see, I have a near photographic memory for all things useless. Didn’t help me with German vocab, but it does help me recall conversations I’ve had almost flawlessly, even if it’s been some time since the words were originally spoken (as you can imagine, this makes me a terrifying girlfriend, since it’s exceptionally easy to destroy my boyfriends in arguments…but we won’t go there, in case your parents are reading. Wha-? OH. Hi Viswanathan Uncle and Auntie! I promise I’m a virgin who’s never conversed with men, even ones I’m related to—I’m totally safe to keep around Kaavya!) Whew, that was close.
Anyway, I remember lots of other things as well. I can remember what my very best friend Eileen Perfume was wearing the day Los Angeles exploded in to riots over the Rodney King verdict. (Maroon boucle turtleneck sweater, black crinkle skirt with blood red roses here and there and black knee-high boots, which she had folded down slightly. She had her hair half-up and half-down, eyeliner on the lower lids, ruby lips and no other makeup.) Like you probably are, I’m a devoted bibliophile who can’t bear to be without something to read at all times. My memory kicks in here, too, since as edifying as Gita Mehta or Vikram Seth might be, knowing what either of them wrote at some point ain’t gonna get me an “A” on anything.
So this memory of mine, which I suspect you got too—sometimes, it is almost dangerous, yes? I can remember being in graduate school (has it already been five years since I graduated? Mein Gott.) and being so exhausted, because I worked full-time (as required by my program) AND took all my classes from 7-10 pm each night. I’d read books and articles throughout the entire day and then sit at my computer around 1 am, after the dinner dishes had been washed and my then-boyfriend had been tended to like some entitled Maharajah who keeps asking for “pani!” when he’s supposed to be asleep. Then, exhausted to the point of sleeping mid-keystroke, I would type. And sometimes, I’d go back and see a sentence and think, “weird”.
I’d feel that odd tingle that unmoored recognition evokes. And then slightly horrified and suddenly awake, I’d realize that I had typed, almost verbatim, something I had read earlier in the day. Sometimes, what I had borrowed wasn’t even brilliant. I’d shake my head then. I was terrified of getting caught, since I was certain that one day I’d turn in a paper that contained a sentence that I hadn’t “re-recognized” in time. “Dear Lord, please don’t let it be something craptacular…if I get in trouble, at least let me parrot something genius.” But that’s not how my little universe works, PK. When I was in third grade, my dramatic ascent up the Spelling Bee ladder was destroyed when I misspelled a word so simple, I’m too ashamed to even type it. It’s always the little things that I trip over, in the end.
I donÂ’t believe that you are the torment-deserving fraud that many of my fellow pajamahadeen think you are. I donÂ’t think you copied those words, that youÂ’re a plagiarist. I think that either one of two things occurred, neither of which is really your fault:
1) You pulled an “Akka” and regurgitated something that was playing on your mind. Like the number “170”. Even if this is true, I blame your handlers for not vetting a manuscript that had received sooo much attention, in this post-Frey era. Perhaps I am mistaken, but aren’t they supposed to read, re-read and triple read what they’re hawking? I can’t help but believe that this is quite common in terms of the writing process, this borrowing a phrase or voice. If this public flogging hasn’t happened often to other writers, then I feel like some critical step was missed in this entire process. Even if I’m wrong, and the process allows that manuscripts DON’T get vetted as carefully as a cabinet-level appointment (WTF?) I think you didn’t intend to lift such craptacular writing. If you were pushed over the ethical edge by exhaustion, pressure and your Ivied obligations, I think you would’ve chosen someone better to borrow from.
2) And this one is the more sinister, more galling and I think, most possible. I keep reading that your book was initially quite different. Darker. Truer. Kaavya-er. I heard that THAT manuscript wasn’t “marketable”, not with a pinkish cover and some strappy stilettos. I heard that lots of Kaavya disappeared and in its place, fluff was stuffed in to Opal Mehta. I don’t know if you’re being set up (that would be even MORE sinister! Perish the thought!) but I do think that someone else did that heavy lifting, dear girl. And I think you’re the one who’s getting marched up to Golgotha for it.
Speaking of Golgotha, perhaps the reason I have so much faith in you is because I suddenly have a lot in me, quite literally. I spent enough time in church last week to qualify being religious as a part-time job, potentially with bennies, if itÂ’s like Starbucks. I emerged from my week of holiness, calmer, stronger, fortified with light. Buoyed by hope and a renewed determination to see good everywhere, in everyone, in all things. If I can have faith that bread and wine when consecrated by a priest, become the body and blood of my savior, I can give my PK the benefit of my doubt. Let people trash and thrash you, Kaavya. Blogging has thoroughly taught me that the bile which they spew (my sinful self included, natch) indicates more about them then you, anyway. You deserve to be innocent until proven otherwise. And I believe that you might just be exonerated of these heavy, back-breaking charges which lay now on your similarly irrantharam shoulders. And if you should fall, while on your way, no matter what causes you to stumble, you will have my prayers and support. We are all human, pots and kettles the lot of us and we all deserve a little bit of compassion.
Sincerely,
Anna-akka
Anna #389:
Wow. I realize that you are anatagonized by what seem like taunts directed at you, but I really don’t think you should ask people to stop commenting on your post and find one that is more in line with their ideology.
Wow. I didn’t realize that my communications skills were so ass. People can comment everywhere; I was directing that person whom YOU think I was denying free speech to, to a post that didn’t “forward” views he found so irritating. You have the right to say what you want, I have the right to blog what I want and I also have the right to not be taken out of context. Part of what I was saying to that commenter involved the simple truth that the vast majority of blog posts I’ve read are very harsh about Kaavya, which is acceptable if not expected. I presented an alternative view with this post and it’s hard for me understand why people think it’s anything but. He essentially wanted me to not do that. You’re going to chide me for something I didn’t say but ignore that?
Please help me re-interpret the following statement from Gaurav, since I am apparently grossly mistaken and out of line (parenthetical notes mine):
He wants me to stop forwarding lameness. How was I doing that? Via post and comment. So, I interpreted his real desire was for me to shut up. THAT is why I sounded the way I did.
Kindly grant me the favor of not answering this. If I’m able, I’ll talk about things like alleged and attempted rapes. Until then, thanks for your understanding.
Anna, apparantly her parents paid something like $30,000 for an Ivy League specialist to help her get into Harvard. This specialist also found her an agent at William Morris. What better way to get into Ivy League than a book deal, huh? ($30k for “packaging” an applicant! I am definitely in the wrong business.) So, not only did she get a book published and not only did she obtain all these lucrative deals, it was this very book with the “internalized” passages that got her into Harvard in the first place!
Doesn’t it bother you just a little bit that this chick thought it was okay to roll out a novel the same way she apparently got into Harvard–by cheating? And it is cheating. Isn’t it? It’s cheating to have someone write your essays and personal statements for you. And it is cheating to write a novel like you might a term paper–only without the proper attributions. Most of us managed to figure this out by high school! Since she obviously hasn’t, she’s hardly Ivy League material. The problem is that this sort of behavior by students and parents is so endemic it has become the norm.
If Harvard still has any academic standards they would boot her. Sorry. No mercy.
I can’t handle the fact that she keeps trying to invoke the “Indian American culture” as a justification for how her novel is different from the other and is constantly playing up her own cultural background, while then completely butchering the pronounciation of the simple name “Mehta” even though she supposedly speaks Tamil fluently. This girl so clearly wants to cash in on her ethnic background and then turn around and slap the Indian American community in the face and embarass those of Indian origin. It’s opportunistic people like this who ruin the image of a minority group that does not have a ton of media coverage to begin with.
I read that it was more like $10k, but this goes to the heart of my dead-horse of an argument: the vast majority of us, contrary to however we might feel, do NOT know all the facts (and thus should restrain ourselves the wee-est bit). Do you know what these admissions counserors do? I know one personally, and he is vastly amused at all the speculation regarding the “services” he’s in the business of providing.
This is part of my reluctance to jump on the oh-so-fun “Bash Kaavya”-bandwagon. I don’t want to condemn a person based on things I actually don’t know especially when some of the things I do know (see above) are contrary to all the saliva-speckled frothing and hissing.
Though I didn’t read all 400+ postings closely, I didn’t see any, while skimming through, that pointed out what may be the most incriminating aspect of this: Kavya gave several interviews in which she listed favorite books, some that meant a great deal to her and others that she read for fun, and never once did she mention Megan McCafferty’s books which, in her apology, she described as books that “spoke to her” more than anything else. If she read them so often that she internalized them and if they had such a profound influence on her, wouldn’t she have mentioned them at least once…somewhere…sometime? Not high-brow enough? Maybe she was embarrassed she read and loved them? Well, she didn’t seem to be concerned about admitting she read and enjoyed Bridget Jones Diary. Sorry but this girl knew she had a reason to hide her knowledge of Ms.McCafferty’s books.
Lizbeth,
I definitely agree with you. The Harvard Independent talked about this issue a few days ago and they were right on target. She listed a fair number of authors/books and McCafferty or her books were not among them. This should be a slam dunk reason for why she’s being totally disingenuous in her apology.
If you peruse my “About” page on my personal weblog, you’ll notice that I have several bands/musical artists listed in lieu of a biography. MANY of them have affected, spoke to, enchanted me. If you expected me to recite all of those, then you’d be disappointed.
I’m the same way about authors. I go on and on about Seth b/c his masterful book inspired my handle (“Suitablegirl”) and thus my “empire” (www.suitablegirl.com, fotolog.net/suitablegirl and about three others). Vikram Seth isn’t the only one who informs my writing, but he has become a sort of “pat” answer when I’m asked about authors and books I love. That doesn’t mean that I don’t love Tom Robbins, who equally, if not moreso influences my style.
Sorry, I need more than that to damn her. I know, I am teh suck. 🙂
Anna #402
It is because I hold you (and other SM bloggers) to a higher standard, and I don’t mean that flippantly. There’s always someone who is either a real jerk, or comes across as one due to real bad choice of words. Anything you intend as a personal response is bound to be taken as an example of what your attitude can sometimes be. To take that to an extreme, I cannot imagine you penning filth in response to something really nasty and hateful. I imagine it must be hard to deal with all the shit wrongfully directed at you and hope you too have some akka willing to provide the same rocking-cradle service 😉
I actually don’t, which is probably why she’s received so much of my sympathy. And yes, you have no idea how hard it can be to be “in the public eye”– and to that eye, I am a mere speck of sand while Kaavya is a mountain. If I cry over some of the shit that has been posted about me on this weblog (“no wonder you’re not married. you’re a fat, black bitch.”) as well as on my own blog (“if you want to help people, get sterilized or better yet, commit suicide. that would be the best thing you could do for the world.”), you can’t be surprised that my heart goes out to someone else in pain.
I’m sorry Anna, but I’m not convinced that your analogy works here. We’re not talking about a book that has “affected” Kaavya, but rather one (or more) that has been extremely influential to her. First, she “wrote 259 words for the Times of India about her favorite books. She mentioned that she was currently reading Zadie Smith’s On Beauty — “I like it a lot” — and she expressed her admiration for the works of Evelyn Waugh, P.G. Wodehouse, Henry James, Jane Austen, the Brönte sisters, Kazuo Ishiguro, Margaret Atwood, Dorothy Dunnett, and Ian McEwan.” She also mentions Enid Blyton.
She read McCafferty’s books “3-4 times each,” and “those titles ‘spoke to [her] in a way few others did’”. In order to get to the point where you internalize something to the degree that would enable you to unconsciously substitute it for your own writing, I would imagine that it would have to be something that you knew pretty damn well and that you would mention if asked about your favorite books (or books that have had the most influence on you). In addition to the fact that she mentions Bridget Jones Diary, she tells UniversityChic.com that “she really [likes] reading trashy romance novels.” This suggests that she wasn’t too embarassed to reveal her interest in these types of works. Surely you don’t think that she has such an amazing photographic memory that she unconsciously memorizes passages from the works of each the above authors (which I believe would be necessary for your theory to work, given the fact that McCafferty’s piece didn’t even make her list)?
you know, i think she’s damned either way– if she HAD listed those two books as “faves”, everyone would seize upon THAT and be all, “proof! proof she did it!” i’ve read arguments that she must be guilty/internalization is inapplicable, b/c if she does internalize, it’s only highbrow lit…not shit lit. then you remind me that other sources say that she doesn’t mind some puff and fluff…so which is it? none of us knows for sure.
she really is stuck; either she did it or her packaging company did. so, she’s either a plagiarist or an accessory to it. either way, she hasn’t been perfectly honest, even if my hunch was true and her packaging co did do it. it’s so frustrating and disappointing for me to watch. BUT i still don’t wish her ill or enjoy it when others do. i constantly remind myself that the information i’m evaluating about all of this isn’t complete or necessarily accurate. and finally, i don’t think she deserves quite the wrath she’s getting especially when i think there are other factors in play here (would we say these same things about her if she were male? if she were at brown? if she was the daughter of a cab driver?).
Well said, ANNA.
Does this post qualify for the “Most number of comments” title on SM?
honey, WHY is that important? i’m not singling you out, b/c someone invariably asks it somewhere on this blog, daily, but i just thought i’d sate my curiousity and ask YOU. 🙂
If it hits 441 comments, it will.
Something tells me that the proof provided by her inclusion of McCafferty would hardly be needed in light of all of the other evidence at play. I think this entire thing has much more to do with the fact that she’s a Cantab than it does to do with her being a girl or the daughter of wealthy parents (though these are minor factors, to be sure). I don’t think people are enjoying this for its entertainment value any more than they would any other saga of this nature. In addition, I guess what I really can’t understand is that you don’t feel that she has harmed the image of Indian Americans as this drama has played out on the front pages of major international periodicals, on national TV and on tens of heavily used Internet discussion boards. For many Americans (particularly those who don’t live in major Indian American-populated areas like L.A. and the Bay, NJ, etc.) perceptions of our ethnicity are limited to the few precious moments in the limelight Indian Americans have from time to time. Sure, techies may know about Vinod Khosla, businesspeople may know about Rajat Gupta, movie buffs may know about Jay Chandrasekhar and writers may know about Jhumpa Lahiri. But very, very few Indian Americans make national news in the way that Kaavya has as of late, and when something like this does happen, it’s an important event that will influence how Americans view those with an Indian qualifier placed ahead of their nationality label. We could argue for years about the extent to which this influence truly affects our role in the U.S., but no one can deny it has a negative impact.
If Kaavya had come out following David’s story and declared that she had plagiarized, I am sure that the vitriol that has been thrown at her over the course of the past day or two would have subsided quickly and the story would have been tucked away in the recesses of our memories. However, does she honestly think she can get away with a pathetic “apology” that isn’t even really an apology but rather a half-assed attempt at a justification? I think that, beyond the issue of plagiarism, people are angry about this because of her arrogance even in the face of public humiliation. She is on a pedestal, and I don’t believe people are unjustified in seeking her to knock her off of it. That she has the gall to suggest there will be a future, revised edition of the book with an “acknowledgement” to McCafferty is shocking. Even with small things, I think people believe she needs a nice serving of humble pie. When Couric asked her about how this might play out with respect to Harvard College’s Ad Board, she responded with near incredulity by saying that she had no idea why they would be concerned with it. Is this girl living in a fantasy world? Harvard has every right to investigate matters related to these allegations and for her to be aghast at the possibility of an inquiry being conducted is just ludicrous. I wouldn’t be surprised if this situation quickly snowballed into a Blair Hornstein affair, replete with an online petition asking for her removal from the College (granted, it was a lot easier with Blair because she had yet to enroll). Whether or not such a petition succeeds in pressing Harvard to remove her, I have a feeling an inquiry might turn up some evidence that would allow the Ad Board to find her guilty of some infraction or another. The fact that all of this has come out during yield week makes is especially harmful to Harvard’s image and institutional competitiveness. Many people simply assume that, by virtue of its status at the top of the pantheon of prestige, Harvard can rest on its laurels and doesn’t need to guard its reputation. This is absolutely false–she has done more damage to Harvard in April than anyone else I can think of. Whether this lives on is another question, but no one knows what repercussions it may eventually have.
I think poor, beleaguered Harvard will survive such a tribulation. Just barely, but it will. Don’t you worry your Crimson self about that.
In other news, Sepia Mutiny readers everywhere suddenly remember why they find Harvard and its partisans so obnoxious.
:honey, WHY is that important?
because it is a barometer of the topics/issues people are passionate about and want to discuss. Its my own unscientific way of studying the brown mind.
:If it hits 441 comments, it will. And before anybody accuses me, no i am not posting this to bump up the number to 441…
Edify away with your chosen barometer, then. 🙂 It was kind of you to humor me.
“she has done more damage to Harvard in April than anyone else I can think of. “
really? i’m not defending KV at all, but you really think she has done more harm to Harvard’s reputation than say Larry Tribe and other Harvard eminence grises caught plagiarising (that too more high-falutin acadamic plagiarising than youth literature), swindling money, and other assorted peccadilloes?
oh, sorry, i just read that you wrote, “she has done more harm to Harvard than anyone else in April.” have there been a lot of other indiscretions and scandals at Harvard in April?
Oh, please–give me a break. Just because Harvard is a prestigious school doesn’t mean that it shouldn’t do what other schools do to protect its image. Furthermore, stop twisting my words around–no one (especially me) would suggest that Harvard won’t “survive such a tribulation.” Nice job with throwing out the red herring of Harvard (oh, and its “partisans” of course!) being a snobby, pretentious school–that has absolutely nothing to do with this discussion. Come back with something substantive instead of dismissing legitimate concerns by appealing to some sort of aversion toward elitism (an elitism that isn’t even relevant here). I understand it’s easier to dish out ad hominem insults than it is to critically address someone’s points. If you think you’re up to the latter, then I’d welcome your thoughts. If not, you have no place in this forum.
Think of “Paavum Kaavya” toppling the whole illustrious dead-white-male Harvard canon 🙂
Look, even without Kaavya or Toral Mehta or whoever, the mainstream U.S. society has a predisposition to find something negative to think of us. So I don’t think Kaavya and others are any significant cause of negative stereotypes about Indians.
So it comes down to how personally you choose to take Kaavya’s misbehavior. I choose to not feel it reflects on me at all.
Yeah, I was just referring to April. Of course there are MANY, MANY other events this year that dwarf this saga in terms of reputation damage potential. I mentioned April to indicate a time frame and also because this is the most important month in college admissions (with yield week, this week, being the period during which colleges battle it out for top applicants who find themselves in the enviable position of holding admission letters from multiple top schools). While I’m sure hardly any (if any) admits would say “Gee, Kaavya plagiarized…I don’t want to go to Harvard anymore,” the media attention certainly given pause to both admits and future applicants and members of the former category may find themselves choosing another school because this incident is a manifestation of some problem (real or imagined) they now see with the Harvard community.
crimsonite, i’m assuming you’ve read http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=513107. i think it’s correct in pointing out that harvard has stored up so much goodwill (both deservedly and undeservedly so) where its reputation is concerned, that the KV incident, while denting that goodwill somewhat, is hardly likely to make much of a difference. harvard will still have the same pull (again both deservedly and undeservedly so).
I certainly don’t think that any given event (short of a massive corruption scandal or fraud or something of the sort) in a given month or year could harm an institution significantly. However, collectively, events taken over a period of time can certainly impact an institution’s image. Harvard may be Harvard, but it is exactly this kind of complacency that has desrtoyed countless erstwhile successful organizations in the past. As higher education becomes increasingly commercialized, nonprofit institutions like universities will have to adapt themselves to a market dynamic in which the forces of supply and demand apply to them as much as they would to Wal Mart or McDonald’s. Again, I’m not saying that Harvard will lose its position because of a few events, or even over a period of ten years. But just as a university can rocket to fame (look at what Stanford was like before WWII or even USC 10 years ago and you’ll understand what I mean), it can also lose just as much ground (though this is definitely a bit harder). At the same time, university prestige is a zero sum game. If one university loses a bit, another (or more) gains. There is simply not enough room in the public’s psyche to hold an infinite number of institutions of high caliber. My main point is that no institution is immune to erosion of prestige. The reason many people think that these events don’t affect institutions very much is that we all think about incidents in short time periods. In a fast-paced world, we look for cause and effect relationships in terms of days, months and perhaps even years…but certainly not in terms of decades, the timeline along which universities function.
crimsonite, chill out. no harvard alum i know, including myself, gives a shit about the harvard dimension of this story. if anyone within the sainted perimeter of harvard yard or with some other association with the univeristy is really worried about the negative effect of this to-do on the university, they have been spending way too much time studying the inner recesses of their navel.
why do you remind me of frasier? 🙂
but.. shouldn’t everyone study the inner recesses of their navel? and eachother’s navels?
doesn’t that make you blind?
Select one:
“Kaavya’s misbehavior has a negative effect on how people view [Indians] [Harvard].”
I am chilled out–don’t worry. To me, this isn’t about some sort of huge emotion-producing event for alumni (which it is not nor should be)–it’s an academic analysis of how events like this could collectively contribute to an erosion of institutional stature over a period of decades. As for your claim regarding Harvard alumni not caring about the fact that the story concerns a Harvard student, I have had the opposite experience. Did you go to the College or one of the grad schools? Also, I would submit that anyone on this site posting comments on this thread has too many time on his or her hands.
“Kaavya’s misbehavior has a negative effect on how people view [Indians] [Harvard] [Privileged kids from wealthy suburbs].”
blind? how? navels are cute! though i’m not the biggest fan of outies.
to Deepa — i’d say (and hope)(if one must be picked)… harvard. because there is at least some act(s) required to fall into that group.
“Kaavya’s misbehavior has a negative effect on how people view [Indians] [Harvard] [Range Rovers].”
both. and no one i know from either group gives a shit.
guilty as charged, playa! and wallowing in it like a pig in mud.
oh!! #3 — both of them
oooh, I love mad libs!!
“Kaavya’s misbehavior has a negative effect on how I view [no] [no] [oh hell yes].”
SWEET! I did it!
longest thread ever!!
snuck in there right before me, dincha?
damn you, SY, damn you.
dons crown, subjugates cicatrix
Oi, SY!
Me ‘n’ my friends, the Haute Bitchez, will be seeing you at lunch, by the parking lot. Prepare to cry.
Oi, SY!
Me ‘n’ my friends, the Haute Bitchez, will be seeing you at lunch, by the parking lot. Prepare to cry.
where’s that dweeb who usually does my typing for me? God, must I, like, write my own words!!
now now cicatrix and sy, any post now sets a new record. so you are both wrong. 🙂
And that would include the author of the quote above, apparently. Thank God Monsieur Mitter had the fortune of showing up on the day when they instructed Harvard students when to use “many” vs. “much”. And before you criticize my nitpicking, remember! The image of Harvard is slowly but surely eroded by carelessness like this. It’s a zero-sum game that “many” will lose.
Wow, that is pretty hilarious. Responding to a claim of an ad hominem attack by pointing out a typo. Very mature. And btw, I am including myself in that category. Again, I’d be more than happy to go back and forth with you when you develop the capacity to argue on points rather than act like a 10-year-old. Until then, I’ll leave you to your comical Harvard bashing.
You mean, until NOW, correct? Because I’m not volleying with myself. I now find the following hilarious, since it could just as accurately be applied to the person who commented it:
You should humbly and contritely excuse yourself from representing Harvard. You’ve convinced me that it deserves so much more.