Advertisement
Babylon & Beyond

EGYPT: Want ads

By Jeffrey FleishmanStaff Writer 

This article was originally on a blog post platform and may be missing photos, graphics or links. See About archive blog posts.

Egypt is many things, but a pyramid of political correctness it is not. Consider the want ads. In the U.S., companies fine tune job posting prose to create an obtuse language with a style all its own. They ‘lawyer-ize’ it, run it past the human relations department and, generally, make sure it does not offend, outrage or otherwise bruise the feelings of any person or group prone to outrage and bruised feelings.

Flick to the Egyptian classifieds and — depending upon your political correctness index — you’ll either be reviled or refreshed. A recent ad for a receptionist in a telemarketing firm left no doubt about the kind of candidate the bosses had in mind: ‘age 22 to 30 — good looking.’ It came with a bonus.

Advertisement

— Jeffrey Fleishman in Cairo

Babylon & Beyond
Jeffrey Fleishman

Jeffrey Fleishman is a former senior writer at the Los Angeles Times. Previously, he was the foreign and national editor. A 2002 Nieman fellow at Harvard University, Fleishman was a Pulitzer Prize finalist in feature writing. A longtime foreign correspondent, he served as bureau chief for The Times in Cairo and Berlin, and was previously based in Rome for the Philadelphia Inquirer. He also was a writer on film, art and culture. Fleishman has been a finalist for the Goldsmith Prize for Investigative Reporting and a finalist for the Center for Public Integrity’s Award for Outstanding International Investigative Reporting. He is the author of five novels, including “Good Night, Forever” and “Last Dance.”

Advertisement
Advertisement