"A glass has broken," a 56-word letter to criticize Twitter

In 2016, EL PAÍS published a letter to the director so short that it almost fit in a tweet. It had 56 words and 293 characters and, although he criticized the use that many people give to Twitter, it became a success on this social network. Its title is "A glass has been broken" and, four years after its publication, it has become popular again on the social network that it criticized. It was this:

Yesterday I dropped a glass and it broke. I count it here because, as there are so many people who tell everything on Twitter and other social networks, I thought that it could also interest the readers of this newspaper. Today I dropped a crystal glass, and then I had to pick it up.— Gonzalo Sánchez Marín. Gelves (Seville).

The letter, which jokes about the banal use that some users make of social networks - recreating the same use in the newspaper - has been published again this April by several tweeters, some of the messages exceeding hundreds of retweets . One of the copies, published by @joanitoad, has exceeded 1,000 shares in less than two days.

Today, in letters to the director, the points on the I's, printed edition. pic.twitter.com/azR8Qp0aYT

This text was published in the printed edition of EL PAÍS –and in the web version– of December 9, 2016, and is signed by Gonzalo Sánchez Marín, from Gelves (Seville). At the time of its publication, its success on Twitter was similar to today. One of the users who popularized it on networks was the writer and journalist Juan Tallón. The text appears copied, literally, also in dozens of Facebook posts.

Brief letter to the director in El País. Essential reading pic.twitter.com/8fOrtwChhc

After its publication in 2016, some users commented on the similarity of this letter with another one published two years earlier in the ABC newspaper. This, signed by Javier Fernández Albarracín and published in the Seville edition of the newspaper, changed the broken glass for a mattress change.

My brother's mattress ... pic.twitter.com/T1PnJqnjPN

This letter also became a networking success. As explained by Cadena SER in 2014, the ABC letter became popular through the page Ladies Who, linked to the Facebook profile of the same name. The original post has been removed. 

Although currently the question that appears on Twitter when we are going to write a message is "what is happening?", It has not always been like this. Until 2009, the question that appeared was: "What are you doing?". Many users have used Twitter, and continue to use it, as a micro diary in which to tell what they do in their day to day. A good example is Pedro Sánchez's classic tweets, which are resurrected from time to time. If a glass had broken in 2010 or 2011, we would have known:

Donating blood ... Pfff, look what happened to me when they prick me ... But it must be done!

With my colleagues in the Luna Rosa restaurant, eating a great pizza

By taxi, by the longest road to the destination; what do i say I make?

The letter "A glass has been broken" humorously criticizes this use and, if it has become popular four years later, it is because, despite politics, humor tweets or food competitions, Twitter has not changed so much . Below, you can read the tweets published over the past two weeks by people who have broken a glass and, instead of telling it in the letters to the director, they decided to do it in their natural environment: Twitter.

From the creator of I stabbed my hand making myself a sandwich to have dinner. He came home. I stabbed my other hand with a glass that was broken while scrubbing.

A glass has been broken in my foot and I only live to write: F

Well, we have seen Friends and a glass has broken, I count it here because ...

Practically my mother has been 21 years telling me not to take food or drink out of the kitchen. Well, I just got up and not only has he failed to do that, but he has also broken a crystal glass, so I have to vacuum the crystals😊. "The house will be loaded in two days"

I've cut myself.

A glass has been broken and, so as not to put it in the trash and cut myself, I have wrapped it in a sheet of newspaper.

I have cut myself with the newspaper.

Do you know that 'there are days when it is better not to get up'? Well today for me it is one of those ... as soon as I get up a bottle has broken, at the moment a glass and on top I have hit my little toe ... I mean ... 😓😥

Hello, today I have tried to do something useful and I have scrubbed, but a glass in my hand has broken. How is your day?

A glass has been broken while scrubbing and I have made a cut on my arm that requires a minimum of two points. It scares me and I do not want to go 😭 It is that I would sew myself if it were not because with the left I am really null before anyone sews me 😂

Today I dropped a glass and it was broken :(

I have dropped a glass of milk and it has broken ... A BOW that goes.

I have had a mini anxiety attack because a glass of winnie the pooh has broken at this level I have reached

Before I have broken a glass with my hand, I have pricked myself a little with a mini crystal, but nah

The problem is that I think another one of those crystals has got into my sleeve and is pricking me, but I can't find it xD

I'm useless xD

Before I have broken a glass with my hand, I have pricked myself a little with a mini crystal, but nah

The problem is that I think another one of those crystals has got into my sleeve and is pricking me, but I can't find it xD

I'm useless xD

I was on the balcony drinking coffee and after this tweet my glass tumbled on the floor and obv broke with all the spilled coffee. Is this a sign of good luck ??????

I have gone to drink a little water and the glass has fallen, it has broken and I have wet everything nor to drink water I serve

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