--- title: "There’s a hidden language in how you stamp an envelope" date: "2020-04-29" modified: "2020-10-30" authors: - name: "Blake Stilwell" job_title: "Editor-In-Chief, Air Force Veteran" link: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/authors/blake/" url: "https://www.wearethemighty.com/mighty-culture/hidden-language-how-stamp-envelope/" categories: - "Deployment" - "Join the Military" - "Mighty MilSpouse" - "Military Culture" --- # There’s a hidden language in how you stamp an envelope ![]() Ever notice how some envelopes arrive to your deployed friends with the stamp upside down? Probably not, but oftentimes you'll see it. Sometimes they're also tilted at an angle. This is not an accident, it's an antiquated but still-living little language in the placement of a stamp. --- ![]() There's no better way to tell someone in jail you love them. An upside-down stamp means "I love you." The stamp posted slightly off-kilter means "I miss you." There's a lot more crammed into the placement of one little square on a slightly larger square. It's an old-timey easter egg, a way to make the letter more than a piece of paper, to personalize it and make even the envelope ones own, transmitting a little emotion along with their ancient text message. The coded messages are more than a century old now, having their origins in the Victorian Era and have somehow survived the advent of modern texting, email, and other forms of communication that don't require stamps. ![]() Of course, there are variations to the language. "Another military wife told me that her grandmother used to flip her stamps when writing her husband, who was deployed overseas," Janie Bielefeldt, an ex-marine living in Jacksonville, N.C. told [the New York Times](). "It's just something you hear about on the base." In those days, young lovers couldn't exactly be as open with their emotions as we have come to be. The idea of sending nudes or a dick pic might actually cause someone to get hanged or burned at the stake back then. Of course, not so these days, where an entire subculture grew up around sending racy photos. For U.S. military members and their families, however, the practice of writing letters is alive and well, and with it is the language of stamps. ## Author Blake Stilwell is We Are The Mighty's Editor-in-Chief, covering military news, entertainment, and history, along with veteran education, employment and entrepreneurship. He is a former U.S. Air Force combat cameraman with degrees in Graphic Design, Television and Film, International Relations, Public Relations, Business Management and Middle Eastern Affairs. After leaving the military, he began working in film and television production in New York and Los Angeles, work that included ABC News, NBC Olympics, and HBO Sports. He then spent two years in Washington with White House Communications, before joining the Near East Foundation. At NEF he served as an International Development Fellow, then Communications Officer, and finally, Media Officer for the Middle East and Africa. Based in the Palestinian Territory, he coordinated strategic communications between eight country offices, international media, and government and NGO partners. He began a career focused on writing and editing in 2015 with We Are The Mighty. He left in 2019 for Military.com, but returned as Editor-in-Chief in 2025. Blake’s work has been seen on CBS News, Fox News, CBC, The Chicago Tribune, Task & Purpose, Military Times, Recoil, Skillset, American History, and was shockingly even used in a Supreme Court argument. He is an avid traveler and small business owner in Ohio, where he spends most of his energy fixing up a very old house. ### Author social links [Facebook]() [Twitter]() [Instagram]() [LinkedIn]()