100 years ago, in the daily newspaper "Universul", people were rushing to place ads. The various texts, even if short, tell a story about the inhabitants of the Capital and their concerns. Some are looking for diamonds, others for life partners or jobs. Behind every ad is the hope to succeed:
"Lady writing well with knowledge of French German language wants clerk position"
"Hungarian madam looking for a position as a perfect cook in a big house. Address Calea Rahovei 178 Loco at Madam Hofman speaks Romanian."
"Married Saxon from Transylvania looking for a job as a shopkeeper or accountant. Address Mich. Schoppel Bucharest, 46 Vespasian street."
"Bucovinian graduate of German high school and commercial course is looking for any job at any private enterprise, Negrusz București str Aristia No 19."
"Yeast wine directly from the producer buy large and small quantities Offers PO Box 441 Bucharest".
"Brilliant gold jewelry buys Sussmann, Brătianu Boulevard 3rd floor. Grants the right of redemption"
"We buy pianos Podlowsky Brothers, Victoriei visavis de Bicere Albă Come in person"
You may be wondering why the syntax of the phrase is strange (clean Caragiale!), why there are made-up words in the ads (visavis), why no one bothered to put punctuation marks. The explanations are simple: 100 years ago, only the written press was king, and people posted ads for a fee in specially dedicated spaces. At 4 lei a word, a comma, a period, an exclamation mark were too expensive for citizens' pockets. So the texts from that time, essential for someone's life or career, make us smile today.
