Americans Will Always Laugh (ready made)

[vagabond]

Americans will always laugh
when you say the word
“vodka” translates literally to “water.”

Like the recent news
that Kremlin officials were just
getting around to recognizing beer

as a form of alcohol, it confirms
an enduring stereotype
about Russian people:

that they can, and do, drink
in quantities that would startle
people in most other nations.

The roots of Russia’s special relationship
with alcohol have been the subject
of widespread speculation,

with some chalking it up
to genetics and others pointing
to the  essential melancholy
of the Russian soul.


taken from an article titled "Why Russia's drinkers resist AA'  published in The Boston Globe by Leon Neyfakh November 3, 2013. Some changes include: cutting all text before and after this section, insertion of words for meter, setting line breaks and stanza breaks.  Photo untitled by Oleg Nikishin © 2001

what  a great way to demask hypocrisy! 
 
only thing: “voda = water”, vodka = little water”
but then, I guess that the mistranslation is essential part of the poem! (was that part of the article?)

that pattern can be found worldwide .. misinformation (deliberately or not) and the reactions/ conclusions that come from it.