INFORMER

The squeaks bear the official name of ?informers? and pop up when you least expect them. The story goes that Virgil Cândrea, director of the association ?Romania? and editor of the journal ?Tribuna României?, mainly destined to the Romanians abroad, once forgot something in his office. He came back and found the cleaning woman sneaking in his paper basket. The woman blushed and told him: ?Well, you know how it is?!? The next day before he left, Cândea went out of the office with the paper basket in his hands and put it on a desk where everyone could see it and told the cleaning woman: ?This is for you, my dear!?

Merisor attended German courses at Goethe Institut. Once, she received in the library of the Institute for Art History an old lady dressed ?like they do abroad? who also attended the German courses. The same day the director found out from the personnel manager that Merisor had received a foreigner in her office at the Institute. Things were easily straightened, but it was clear that some colleague was immediately sensitized by the foreign-looking air of the visitor and reported it to the personnel manager. (7)

INTELLECTUAL

A dubious character, usually of bourgeois extraction, in the habit of having personal opinions in contradiction to the tenets of the socialist order. There were some remarkable exceptions, too. Outstanding artists or men of letters who followed the ?Party line?. They were recompensed with glory, political status and important material advantages. (51)

INVENTIVENESS

The story was that once, in wintertime, a group of Romanians accommodated at a hotel in Paris discovered a means to have the radiator function free of charge. The method was simple yet ingenious, and it was eventually adopted by other groups of Romanians travelling abroad, be they sportsmen or officials. They put water in a beer bottle cap and let it freeze, so that it ended up like a disc with the exact size of the necessary coin. It was then introduced into the slid and once the radiator started functioning, it melted and left no sign of fraud. Just that the hotel administration saw how the parameters of heating use grew while the bills never covered them. Before the French got it, the method was validated and employed by other Romanian groups on various occasions. (125)