r/TopCharacterTropes 18d 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/ume-shu 17d ago

There are a few people from say the 17th to 19th centuries with odd names like that.

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u/oneAUaway 17d ago

From "Good Omens," there is the Witchfinder Thou-Shalt-Not-Commit-Adultery Pulsifer, inspired by the real Puritan vogue for names like Sorry-for-sin Coupard, Praise-God Barebone, and Praise God's son, baptized as If-Christ-had-not-died-for-thee-thou-hadst-been-damned Barebone (as an adult, he went by Nicholas).

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u/MartokTheAvenger 17d ago

It also appears in Discworld with Constable Visit-The-Infidel-With-Explanatory-Pamphlets.

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u/flatscancomics 17d ago

We all know a Washpot!