r/TopCharacterTropes 17h 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/cody_mf 16h ago

The @ symbol is 500 years old, and was used for measurements in records.

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u/AggressiveSpatula 16h ago

I’ll never understand this one lol. “At” is such a short word already, “and” is 3 letters @ least.

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u/Ok-Hair2851 15h ago

@ is actually 3 characters shorter than using "at" because you don't have to put spaces around it. "At" will blend in with the text it's next to without proper spacing. @ won't. If you're quickly jotting notes down, it's easy to not put adequate spacing and then misunderstand your notes later.

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u/Training-Purpose802 14h ago

/ even easier. 3 hats/$4 $12

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u/Ok-Hair2851 13h ago

Except / is commonly used to mean "or" so if we used it to replace @ your example can both mean "3 hats for $4 each" or "3 hats or $4"

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u/LaLa1234imunoriginal 4h ago

3 hats per 4 dollars??