diff --git a/evennia/utils/utils.py b/evennia/utils/utils.py
index 17b4ecf6c9..1e9c0c48a1 100644
--- a/evennia/utils/utils.py
+++ b/evennia/utils/utils.py
@@ -636,7 +636,7 @@ def to_str(obj, encoding='utf-8', force_string=False):
         except UnicodeEncodeError:
             for alt_encoding in ENCODINGS:
                 try:
-                    obj = obj.encode(encoding)
+                    obj = obj.encode(alt_encoding)
                     return obj
                 except UnicodeEncodeError:
                     pass