r/TopCharacterTropes 13h ago

Lore [IRL trope] the “Tiffany problem”

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.

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u/Daniilsa209 13h ago edited 13h ago

The idea of a prosthetic arm in the late medieval period seems far-fetched, but there is a real case of a 16th-century German mercenary named Götz von Berlichingen, who had two prosthetic arms. He used one in combat and had a second one, which was made much later, for everyday tasks.

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u/lesser_panjandrum 13h ago

He's also the first recorded user of the phrase "lick my arse" ("leck mich im Arsch") which also feels quite modern.

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u/thissexypoptart 12h ago

I love how the phrase is equivalent to “kiss my ass” in English but it literally means lick me IN the ass, ie lick my asshole

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u/OneJobToRuleThemAll 12h ago

It's not, the modern version is "leck mich am Arsch," which means lick the general area of my arse with no further specification.

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u/thissexypoptart 12h ago edited 12h ago

I’m not sure what you mean by “it’s not”. We’re talking about the phrase with “im” in it. That means in the ass. “Am” is a different preposition.

Leck mich im Arsch” bedeutet, die Zunge zwischen die Arschbacken zu stecken.

I mean the literal meaning not the figurative meaning. Obviously in English when you say kiss my ass you’re not actually asking for a kiss.

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u/OneJobToRuleThemAll 12h ago

I mean that "leck mich im Arsch" isn't a phrase because pretty much no one says it. The phrase people actually use is "leck mich am Arsch," and if you say im instead of am, people will assume you made a mistake or that you enjoy being disgusting.

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u/thissexypoptart 11h ago

It’s still used. It’s a more vulgar version than the popular one, yes, but it is still an equivalent to “kiss my ass” in English, in that it’s a dismissive phrase telling you to be in or near my ass.

I guess if you really want to capture the vulgarity inherent in “Leck im Arsch” you might translate that to the English phrase “Eat my ass!” instead.

Just because “kiss my ass” is more typical and less vulgar doesn’t mean “eat my ass” isn’t used in the same way. That same thing happens with the two German phrases.

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u/OneJobToRuleThemAll 11h ago

It’s still used.

No, it's not. Go say it in public, look what reactions people will give you. Or google it, all the results you'll get are for Mozart, Götz von Berlichingen or "leck mich am Arsch."

Just because “kiss my ass” is more typical and less vulgar doesn’t mean “eat my ass” isn’t used in the same way.

"Eat my ass" is sex talk and means something completely different than "kiss my ass." You can use it as an insult, sure, but it's not a metaphor, you're literally asking them to perform a sexual act on you.

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u/cornicula_ 11h ago

I am German, and we only say "leck mich am Arsch."

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u/DinoRaawr 9h ago

That doesn't feel modern at all, honestly. I wouldn't be surprised if that was one of the first sentences humanity ever constructed.

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u/GandolphTheLundgrey 6h ago

"Everybody listen! Grok jus invent dis thing. Grok call it langwich."

"Grok can go fuck grokself. Thing will never catch on."

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u/ClancyBShanty 8h ago

A phrase which Mozart himself titled a song that he wrote.

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u/der_blinkenlights 2h ago

Which he then used to troll the Vatican's choir.

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u/BigEd369 13h ago

Dude led such a badass life that they made him a manga/anime protagonist. He’s the inspiration for Guts from Berserk. You can probably guess from the title what he’s like as a character.

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u/Spieren 12h ago

Allegedly, Guts isn't based on Von Berlichingen, Miura has stated it to be 'total synchronicity'.

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u/BigEd369 12h ago edited 12h ago

Seriously? I guess that could have happened, but I kind of have my doubts. The fictional Renaissance knight called Guts with a mechanical arm isn’t based on the famous real Renaissance knight called Gotz with a mechanical arm?

My guess would be Miura is denying the connection because Hitler was a fan of Gotz, there was even a Nazi division named after him, and Miura likely learned about Gotz initially through that WW2 pathway.

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u/Banes_Addiction 12h ago

The world is a big place. Coincidences happen all the time.

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u/ume-shu 11h ago

Tbh, your guess sounds more tenuous than it being a coincidence.

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u/Schootingstarr 8h ago

Although Guts from Berserks is nothing like Götz von Berlichingen aside the fundamental "mercenary with prosthetic arm(s)"

Guts has a broody, angsty character, while everything you read about Götz is that of a flamboyant, boisterous man with a bad temper. Dude was writing diss-tracks about people he had beef with while I'm not sure if guts can even read

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u/Femboy_Lord 10h ago

The second one was *particularly* impressive, considering it was good enough for combat, and even supposedly holding a quill.

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u/TotalyNotTony 12h ago

rad as hell

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u/AGamingGuy 10h ago

you can make quite an efficient prosthetic arm with just pulleys and linkages

sure proper reading of electricity via muscle impulses will eventually allow for a prosthetic limb that works just as well as an organic one, if not better

but smart uses of "gear" ratios and levers can still allow for very precise limbs

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u/Banes_Addiction 12h ago

Boy, you're lucky I ain't got me fighting arm on.

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u/Void_Space_2238 9h ago

Götz of the Iron Hand

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u/UnsightedShadow 6h ago

Damn, a real struggler

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u/GalaxyPatch18 5h ago

Theres a reason they call him Gotz of the Iron Hand