Do you speak 19th century Tinder?

It is difficult to say whether the level has been reached in this matter. Usually, less virtuous websites shower us with the worst “catch phrases” found on dating apps: “Don’t need anything, just need fingers”, “Five years of celibacy tickle there.”etc., and tell ourselves that mankind does not have much time left. But in “No Serious Abstainer” (CNRS éditions), excerpted from her thesis “Meeting Market”, historian Claire-Lise Gaillard reproduces some typical advertisements from the 19th.^e Century and we say, unfortunately, humans know how to err.

Our eye is no longer trained on rows of brief abbreviations such as “J. H. P. S. D. R. Ford.” Cat. Ep. JF to sit In rap. esp” (this is a slight exaggeration). To help us in this reading, here are some entries from the vocabulary reproduced in the book:

• “Bstr”: It stands for “good in every way.”
• “Rdm”: “Nothing from demi-mont”, meaning whoever posted the ad didn’t want it to be…

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