Come with me to the corner of my mind where schemas are stored and activated. Thus the path of the lifelong language learner, an early reader, a dogged on-the-job trainer.
My mind just creatively fills in blanks like there’s no tomorrow. I don’t even realize I’m doing it. My friends who have heard me blithely sing completely wrong lyrics will know this side of me.
This is also how I remember reading a lot, at 6 and 7. Just read stuff, not understand, make up some placeholder fact/definition/pronunciation, and continue to turn pages.
I told Jason this story weeks ago, and he gave me a good-humored snort. “You have to blog about this, you realize.”
So here we go.
There are these trucks in Firenze. All of Italy, now, as I realize. They are red, and ubiquitous.
BRT Corriere Espresso.
BRT: Be Right There! Of course I read it for an English acronym. Who knows why.
DHL is Deutsche Poste Handlung, why not an anglophone acronym in Italy too. It’s a relatively slow country by comparison, and Anglophones are known for their speed and efficiency.
Be right there! Little truck will be right there with your stuff.
But wait! A tagline offers a further clue as to what the Be Right There people might be expediting.
Corriere espresso. Running your espresso right over. This must be the truck that supplies the hundreds of caffe bars with fresh roasted beans, right? Of course! The espresso run!
Just dropping off beans everywhere! Be right there, speedy with coffee beans.
Keeping Firenze caffeinated.
This was a little story going on in my head for months until I realized this is Italian UPS, “fast delivery.”
Not Be Right There.
Not the espresso bean express.
Just packages.
Just dropping off packages, signora. Niente di piu ne di meno.
I think BRT stands for “Bartolini.” Maybe? of course I can’t now easily confirm it anywhere in the interwebs.
