# Prove To Me You're From This Century **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [November 20, 2001, 10:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483 "2001-11-20T22:50:04Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Cougarfang](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c67d28/32.png) [@Cougarfang](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cougarfang)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 12:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/41 "2001-11-21T12:40:20Z")
about 5 posts up from yours, **iampunha** … 😃 ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 2:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/42 "2001-11-21T14:22:59Z")
Some of you are saying “but they might just think that I’m some kind of genious” as if that’s a _bad_ thing. Hey - sod the “prove you’re from this century” lark for a game of soldiers. I’m accumulating a few “ **kabbes’** theorems” in maths, physics, chemistry, economics… You lot studying today can then worship my name as the greatest thinker ever known. Hehehe. pan ---
**Author:** ![kabbes](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e99b99/32.png) [@kabbes](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kabbes)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 2:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/43 "2001-11-21T14:24:13Z")
Of course a _real_ genius knows how to spell the word “genius” :rolleyes: ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 3:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/44 "2001-11-21T15:04:21Z")
I don’t know how anyone could prove he or she was from this century, specifically, but I could easily prove that I was from a more advanced time or place by…smiling! I would just show them my straight, pretty, pearly whites. Almost no adults had healthy teeth back then, especially old bags of 38. I could also show them my various surgical scars. It was too common to survive surgery back then either and I have three major scars, not just one. ---
**Author:** ![Caricci](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/85f322/32.png) [@Caricci](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Caricci)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/45 "2001-11-21T15:05:27Z")
I mean it was NOT too common to survive surgery. ---
**Author:** ![Ellen\_Cherry](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ellen_cherry/32/3600_2.png) [@Ellen\_Cherry](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ellen_Cherry)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 4:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/46 "2001-11-21T16:25:50Z")
I don’t think they even _performed_ surgery in 1701. The medical wisdom of the day was that opening the abdominal cavity could only mean certain death for the patient, since infection would be swift and unavoidable. In late 1809, frontier doctor Ephraim McDowell removed a 20-pound ovarian tumor from the abdomen of Jane Todd Crawford in Danville, Kentucky, in what is considered the world’s first abdominal surgery. Not that I could show up in 1701 and remove an appendix or anything. I could probably convince them I’m She-Ra the Amazon or something, though, as I’m nearly 6 feet tall. ---
**Author:** ![Shera](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/7ba0ec/32.png) [@Shera](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shera)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 5:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/47 "2001-11-21T17:21:54Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Ellen \* > \*\* I could probably convince them I’m She-Ra the Amazon or something, though, as I’m nearly 6 feet tall. \*\* hmmm… I’ll have to be sure to get there before you can steal my persona. Unless of course you’re willing to share. 😃 ---
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 11:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/48 "2001-11-21T23:27:08Z")
Myself. I have my watch complete with batteries, I have my glasses (with lightweight flexi-metal stuff), my fillings, my teeth that were pulled painlessly with painkillers, and, of course, my braces. Then there’s my shoes and ---
**Author:** ![Anubis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dfb087/32.png) [@Anubis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Anubis)\ **Post date:** [November 21, 2001, 11:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483/49 "2001-11-21T23:39:59Z")
oops. Forgot to type in something. That last line is Then there’s my shoes and clothes. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/prove-to-me-youre-from-this-century/94483.md?page=2)