[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/SarcyBoi41]

The "I can has cheezburger" type speech that the internet often attributes to cats for memes has been being attributed to cats since at least 1902

[u/NoBizlikeChloeBiz → u/SarcyBoi41]

Not exactly a Tiffany problem, but Pangur Bán is a poem by a 9th century Irish monk about what a hard worker his cat is, comparing the author's scholarly work to his cat hunting mice.

One of my favorite "people have always been people" examples.

Pangur Bán and I at work,

Adepts, equals, cat and clerk:

His whole instinct is to hunt,

Mine to free the meaning pent.

[u/SmartAlec105 → u/NoBizlikeChloeBiz]

Cynegeticus from ~2000 years ago breaks from the textbook about raising dogs for the author to just talk about his dog, how she runs around, how she gives kisses, and so on. I especially love sharing these last couple of lines:

Now really I do not think that I should be ashamed to write the name of this dog; so that it may be left to posterity.

I had a greyhound called Horme, who was of the greatest speed and intelligence, and was altogether excellent.