Grammar question: What is this trying to say?

[TriPolar]

@Chessic_Sense

Instead of “may”, which sounds like asking permission, how about “might”, which conveys possibility?

“Enter the ZIP code from where this package might be mailed:”

They can’t go with “will” because then some people might think “Oh, if I enter the zip code, it’ll confirm the purchase” or whatever. I like my version best.

Same problem. It might be mailed from any post office.

PunditLisa provided the unambiguous solution.

[BobArrgh]

Enter the ZIP Code where this item will be mailed from, idiot.

[x-ray_vision]

@Enderw24

On the USPS’s site, at one point it asked me

Enter the ZIP Code from where this item may be mailed:

What is it asking for?

Right above that it says:

"Please supply the ZIP Code from where you intend to mail this item. "

http://ircalc.usps.gov/GXGOrigin.aspx?country=10211&m=6&p=2&o=0&mt=7

[Czarcasm]

@BobArrgh

Enter the ZIP Code where this item will be mailed from, idiot.

[Mod Note]Please try to remember which forum you are posting in. Thank you.[/Mod Note]

[Acsenray]

There is no ambiguity.

[Spectre_of_Pithecanthropus]

@TriPolar

The only thing I see wrong is that you could enter the ZIP code of any post office that would mail the package since it says ‘may be mailed’, not ‘would be mailed’.

I might be confused at that. It’s unusual, IME, for the USPS to ask you where you’re mailing something from, what with standardized mail rates for many domestic mail services, no matter you mail it from.

[Philster]

might vs. may

[SciFiSam]

Ender, what I love about that is that your wife totally gets that you were schooled by a thread on here. Happy birthday!

@Czarcasm

[Mod Note]Please try to remember which forum you are posting in. Thank you.[/Mod Note]

JFTR, I read that as him paraphrasing the postal service’s phrasing, not insulting anyone.

[IvoryTowerDenizen]

@SciFiSam

Ender, what I love about that is that your wife totally gets that you were schooled by a thread on here. Happy birthday!

JFTR, I read that as him paraphrasing the postal service’s phrasing, not insulting anyone.

Ditto: supplying the snarky USPS instructions they might write.

[matt_mcl]

@SciFiSam

Ender, what I love about that is that your wife totally gets that you were schooled by a thread on here. Happy birthday!

JFTR, I read that as him paraphrasing the postal service’s phrasing, not insulting anyone.

Yeah, it’s an old joke:

“Hey, where are the dorms at?”
“At this school we do not end sentences with prepositions.”
“Okay, where are the dorms at, asshole?”