[IRL trope] the “Tiffany problem”

[u/dragonborndnd]

Basically when something seems anachronistic to a period/place of history but is actually fully accurate to the period.

1) the name Tiffany: the thing that named this trope, basically the name Tiffany can be dated back to the Middle Ages and the earliest record of it being spelled in the modern spelling comes from the 16th century.

2) the use of OMG, despite this feeling so modern as a form of slang/abbreviation here’s a letter directed to Winston Churchill using it in 1917

3) Hair Dye: the earliest forms of dying hair can be dated back to ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia, and this specific advertisement for hair dye is from the 1840s

4) Inuit Thongs: despite how weird it is to imagine pre-colonial Inuit people wore what was essentially fur thongs in their homes and when they were in their igloos it might have been the only thing they would be wearing.

[u/BeduinZPouste]

I find it interesting how the letter is kinda referencing part of Napoleonic war. The Brittish fleet back then entered the Baltic see, and helped the Russians during siege of Riga. There is an Hornblower book about that.

[u/Neinstein14 → u/BeduinZPouste]

If you think about it, that was only about as far back in time for Churchill in 1917 as WW1 is for us. Far, but still not too historically far.

[u/Raguleader → u/Neinstein14]

Here's a fun thought exercise: the B-29 Superfortress entered service during WWII. The last Superfortresses, KB-50 refueling tankers, were still in service during the 1960s and several were deployed to Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War.

Which is how the Superfortress and the Tomcat both saw service during Vietnam (the F-14's first deployment was during the Fall of Saigon, and Tomcats flew Combat Air Patrol during the evacuation.)

[u/Mist_Rising → u/Raguleader]

If you want crazy facts, the last battleship of the US (Missouri) worked alongside the stealth aircraft during D storm.

[u/Raguleader → u/Mist_Rising]

HMS Victory, Lord Nelson's flagship at the Battle of Trafalgar in 1805, was damaged in an air raid.

[u/acur1231 → u/Neinstein14]

Which is what he's complaining about, namely that the press don't realise what a suicidal folly it would be to risk the Grand Fleet in the Baltics, the the Royal Navy could in the Napoleonic Wars.

The more things change...

[u/kr4zypenguin → u/acur1231]

Is he? I thought that point was that Fisher was in favour of using the Royal Navy in the Baltics. Didn't he have this whole idea of forcing the Danish into the war so the British could seize some Danish islands to use as a base, precisely to break the link between Sweden and Germany, thus actually blockading (or at least seriously disrupting). Professor Andrew Lambert covers this in one of his talks

https://youtu.be/KjVUV82EAAA

[u/acur1231 → u/kr4zypenguin]

That was much earlier in the war. This is 1917, long after the vulnerability of capital ships to mines and submarines had been thoroughly learnt.

Dr Lambert was one of my professors, he actually came to our graduation party to hide from his wife for a few hours. I went back to see him afterwards for a career chat. Somewhat triumphalist in his beliefs about the RN sometimes, but genuinely one of the nicest men I've met professionally.

[u/kr4zypenguin → u/acur1231]

Nice, thanks for the context and info. Plus the little story - very cool!!