Was hätte ich für meine Münzen bekommen ?

[villa66]

Nice, klaupo. Just a few questions that maybe you or someone else could please answer.

Is the handwritten price RM3,50 to 3.75?

This is a per day price?

What is the handwritten abbreviation after the second price?

Is the 5% item that was lined through some sort of tax or surcharge or?

Is this for a room with hot and cold running water?

A double or a single (bed) room?

The meals and snack that are listed are included in this price?

Sorry for the questions, but this is interesting and I want to be sure.

v.

P.S. I love the phone number!

[klaupo]

3,75 RM per day and guest was charged for the six rooms providing running water (warm and cold). The other rooms for 3,50 RM have presumably been equipped with wash-bowls (quite common even in the 1950-ies). „Pensionspreis … inkl.“ means something like „all inclusive“, i.e. the per day price included the room and all meals and snacks. The lined through 5% was a common extra-charge for the waiters' service at the table (excluded in this offer). There is no hint about a different charge for double or single (bed) rooms.

I hope this answers your questions.

Best regards
klaupo

[villa66]

It does answer my questions, perfectly. Danke!

v.

[Mynter]

Zur selben Zeit, in der Mr. Meriwether Europa so billig wie nur möglich erkundete (1886 ) , erschien in einem Verlag in Christiania ( Oslo ) dieser Sprachführer mit dem Namen " The little American " , gedacht für " Emigranten und andere, die schnell verstehen und sich verständlich machen wollen ".

Norwegen war zu diesem Zeitpunkt ( 1887 ) ein rückständiges Land, gekennzeichnet von Arbeitslosigkeit und Armut, mit den üblichen Begleiterscheinungen wie hoher Kindersterblichkeit und Alkoholismus. Man schätzt, dass zwischen 1825 und 1920 ca 800.000 Norweger ihr Glück " over there " versuchten. Norwegens Bevölkerung selbst stieg in diesem Zeitraum von ca 1.000.000 auf 2.000.000. Viele Auswanderer sahen ihre Heimat nie wieder, andere kehrten oft nach Jahrzehnten in ein völlig fremdes Land zurück. Vorwiegend im mittleren Westen gibt es noch heute norwegischsprachige Regionen, in denen die Traditionen der alten Heimat - und auch die norwegische Sprache- am Leben gehalten werden.
Heute stelle ich aus dem " Little American " das Kapitel " Über Amerika " vor. 50 Dollar kostete ein Pferd, 25 Dollar eine Kuh. Soviele Dollars habe ich nicht, doch den Tageslohn eines Arbeiters kann ich beisteuern, einen Dollar habe ich glücklicherweise, er stammt sogar aus dem Westen und versprüht den Pioniergeist der Epoche und die ( zweifelhafte ) Romatik von rauchenden Colts und unmelodiöser Klaviermusik aus verrauchten Kaschemmen.
Wenn ich Zeit finde, übersetzt ich nich eine Passage, in denen Preis- und Geldverhältnisse auf der Überfahrt gennant werden.

[Afrasi]

Toll!

[villa66]

Fun stuff. More please? I mean, when it's handy....

v.

[villa66]

Just to reintroduce this thread, I found a wonderful old book—in terrible shape but very useful--A TRAMP TRIP (How to see Europe on Fifty Cents a Day), written in 1886 by Lee Meriwether and published in 1887 by Harper & Brothers of New York.

And again with apologies, because of the complicated subject matter, in this thread I’ll usually be posting in English only. But please, any and all contributions are very welcome, no matter how expressed.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Mr. Meriwether is still in Italia, still in Napoli…

“In Naples there are no dairies, no milkman to wake you at 6 A.M. with a big bell…Instead, men walk from street to street leading cows by strings, and when a customer comes the cow-man stops and milks the desired quantity. I purchased a small tin bucket, and every morning and evening took a short stroll until I saw a man with a cow, from whom I got a quart of milk, and on this, with bread and figs, made an economical and nutritious meal. One would imagine this method would absolutely preclude surreptitious watering of the milk. I thought so, but soon found my mistake.

“I noticed the milk I drank was peculiarly thin, yet, as I had stood by while it was milked I was at a loss to understand the cause. Could it be that the cows drank too much water? One day the mystery was explained. It happened that when I came across my cow-man he was milking for an Italian. I was surprised when I saw the Italian suddenly step up and squeeze the cow-man’s arm, and still more surprised when, as a result thereof, I saw a stream of water spurt from the cow-man’s sleeve.

“I mentioned this incident to the American consul, who told me it was a very common trick. Cow-men keep a bag of water under their coats, letting it down into the milk through a rubber tube concealed in the sleeve. When detected, a shrug of the shoulders, a ‘Santa Maria, what difference?’ is the cool reply; when not detected, the Neapolitan cow-man silently laughs as he squirts water through his sleeve and sells it to you at six cents a quart.”

….Mr. Meriwether is talking in terms of American money and American measures for the convenience of his readers…6 (U.S.) cents per quart (liter) of milk, but he was actually spending 30 centesimi, perhaps like this:

[villa66]

But this is no mere story of Italian cheating—oh no—because what I omitted was Mr. Meriwether’s casual mention of how the cheating was done in America….

“In Naples there are no dairies [as in America], no milkman to waken you at 6 A.M. with a big bell [as in America], and sell you a quart of milk-and-water for nine cents [as in America].”

In the United States of 1885, Mr. Meriwether suggests, the watering of the milk is factory-done , and for that quart (liter) of milk-and-water, an American might tender his or her 9 cents this way:

[villa66]

Or:

[villa66]

Or:

[villa66]

Or, and etc. :

v.

[Mynter]

Thank you, villa for sharing this funny episode with us ! I came to remember what Thomas Pynchon writes in his great " Mason and Dixon " novell, about milkmaids " refreshing " rather old milk by adding snails, wich gave the milk a sort of bubbling foam and made it look just of- the- day.

[KarlAntonMartini]

Ulysses, 1st chapter: the old milk wife charges the inmates of the Sandymount Martello tower for 6 quarts and 1 pint of milk (apparently of good quality) 4 d per quart, altogether 2 shillings 2 d. They pay with a Two-shilling piece, still owing 2 d. The price should reflect the reality in 1904. And this coin maybe was in the pocket of Buck Mulligan:

Best regards, KarlAntonMartini

[Mynter]

Nice florin- let me borrow you tuppence.

[KarlAntonMartini]

Thanks for the twopence. We need them for the next transaction in chapter 1. Stephen Dedalus kept them in his pocket and lent them to Buck Mulligan for buying a pint of beer. Happy times when a pint of beer in a pub was equivalent to a pint of milk.