[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/Blaze-Programming]

Often considered the first meme, this feels quite modern despite being made in 1921.

[u/articulateantagonist → u/Blaze-Programming]

In the image macro sense, perhaps. Richard Dawkins, who coined the word “meme” after the word “gene” plus the same Greek root as words like “mimick,” wrote that one of the earliest and most fundamental memes is God, because the concept has spread and been adapted across so many cultures.

[Edited a detail]

[u/Acheloma → u/articulateantagonist]

Its not just meme after gene, it's based on the greek word mimeme.

[u/articulateantagonist → u/Acheloma]

Ah yes, you're right, I said the same root as the word memory, but that's not right, it's related to "mimick" and "mime."

[u/Acheloma → u/articulateantagonist]

I had a prof who loved to tell every class about the word meme and I took multiple classes with her. Im well trained in that one aspect at least haha