Speaking the English
This afternoon I went to the post office to mail The Columbia Poetry Review, a Moleskine notebook (I love mine), and a book about selling poems to my friend in Iraq. I’d packaged them in an Amazon.com box I had lying around my apartment. I’d crossed off the company’s name on the sides of the box, but by the time I got to the post office the ink had dried and Amazon.com was visible.
When the woman behind the counter saw it, she told me that I needed to be more thorough next time. The words on the package could confuse a foreigner working in the Army mail room because “they don’t speak the English that good.”
Tags: Amazon.com, Army, English, Goofs, Iraq, Iraq War, Moleskine, The Columbia Poetry Review
My writing focuses on travel and culture. I've contributed to The Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Air Canada's enRoute, BlackBook, Budget Travel, Deadspin, and Louisville Magazine. I'm also the editor-in-chief of Louisville.com and BlackBook's Louisville City Editor.