The University of Chicago Club of Washington, DC, is offering a guided tour of the Pentagon. According to the description:
English is the only language permitted inside the Pentagon. Please do not converse or otherwise communicate in any other language while on the tour or you will be escorted out of the building.
This after you’ve passed through an “airport-type, physical security screening” and shown “two (2) forms of picture ID.” (I’ve always loved when they put the number in parentheses. By which I mean, I’ve never understood it. “Oh, that two! I thought you meant 3, or some other number that is close to 2, or has 2 in it, or is just a different number entirely. Glad you cleared that up.”)
And, of course, when you signed up you gave them your full name, social security number, date of birth, place of birth, style of birth (Caesarean, forceps, breech, etc.), and nationality of the obstetrician.
Too bad for me—I only have one picture ID (my passport expired years ago). Not that I particularly wanted to go.
I wonder if a person would get kicked out for saying “Gesundheit.” Or for humming “La donna è mobile” (the Italian language is certainly implied in such an act, and besides, who knows what sort of signal that aria might be convey to … some other opera buff). Well, I know one thing for sure: the company that cleans my office doesn’t have the contract at the Pentagon. Olé!
