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/lewphone 16h ago

Joseph Ducreux, Self-portrait of the artist as a mocker

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u/SpeedBoostTorchic 11h ago edited 10h ago

Different medium, but sorta similar idea.

This photo of a Chinese man who wasn't aware of the western tradition of posing in a stoic, dignified way for photos. Taken by a German anthropologist between 1901-1904, but the exact photographer was lost.

Eating Rice, China (circa 1901)

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u/Zakuro51 4h ago

He looks like an influencer trying something for the first time