Factual Mistakes, Misspelled Names, One Deeply Regretted Cheese Classification, And The Process By Which We Fix Them
This is the Corrections page for The Paris Fool. We publish satire, but satire built on wrong facts is just wrong, which is worse than satire that is merely unfunny. When we get the facts wrong, we say so here, briefly, with as little editorial throat-clearing as possible, and then we fix the original article. Margaux de Vaucouleurs maintains the corrections log. Henri signs off on each entry. Brigitte is rarely wrong but is mortified on the rare occasions she is.
Our Standard
Errors of fact are corrected promptly. Errors of taste are noted and not repeated, but they are not corrected, because correcting an error of taste retroactively is more embarrassing than the original error. Errors of comedy — jokes that do not land, premises that collapse, punchlines that arrive too early or too late — remain in the archive as a record of the attempt. Comedy is hard. We tried. The evidence is there.
Corrections On Record
Paris arrondissement piece: Originally referred to the Mairie du 6th as the Mairie du 16th. The error was caught by a reader who lives in the 6th and was offended by both the error and the implied comparison. Corrected within two hours. The reader has since become a reliable tipster for the 6th arrondissement beat, which Henri regards as a satisfactory outcome.
Wine region piece: Misnamed a Beaujolais cru, calling it by the name of a different cru entirely. The error was caught within forty minutes by four separate readers, three of whom have professional credentials in the wine industry and one of whom was simply very certain. All four were correct. The wine columnist was demoted to junior wine columnist for ten days. He has since been reinstated and is, if anything, more confident about Beaujolais than he was before.
Metro piece: Stated that line 4 has fourteen stations. Line 4 has twenty-seven. The reporter used the number he remembered. The number he remembered was the number of stations he has personally exited at, which is fourteen, which is not the same thing. He has been instructed to consult RATP before filing any future piece involving line 4’s infrastructure.
Cheese piece: Confused a Saint-Nectaire with a Saint-Marcellin in a piece about the correct cheese course order. This error was caught by Henri’s mother, who called the office telephone and spoke to Brigitte for twelve minutes. Brigitte handled the call with professionalism. The correction was made. Henri’s mother has been added to the advisory board with the title “Senior Cheese Correspondent (Honorary).”
Historical piece on the Mitterrand era: Placed an event in 1986 that occurred in 1988. Sebastien Loup noticed but said nothing for three weeks because he was composing his thoughts on the matter. By the time he committed his thoughts to email, two readers had also written in. The correction was made before Sebastien sent the email. He sent it anyway.
How To Submit A Correction
Email through our Contact page with the article URL, the specific error, and your source for the correct information. Margaux reviews all correction submissions. If we were wrong, the article is corrected within 24 hours and the correction is logged here. If we were right, Margaux will explain why, in detail, with citations, in a response that is frankly more thorough than the situation usually requires but reflects her standards.
Corrections: Contact page | Tel: +33698824738 | 48 Rue Saint-Honore, 75001 Paris.
Browse: Paris Satire | France Satire | Archives.