# That '70s Show: another anachronism? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 12, 2004, 6:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349 "2004-11-12T06:25:59Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 12, 2004, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/21 "2004-11-12T22:56:42Z")
And there are Fox Point (Milwaukee County) and Wind Point (Racine County), suburbs on the shore of Lake Michigan. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/22 "2004-11-13T03:00:40Z")
> [@Exapno Mapcase](#): > > Back to the OP. You’ve got to be kidding. The show is set in 1979, not 1959. A lot changed over those two decades. I know the difference between the '50s and the '70s, TYVM. But the writers of this show often don’t seem to know the difference between the '70s and the '90s. Like a few seasons ago when Donna accused Eric of “stalking” her. No one used that term in 1979. **Lamia** , your last paragraph sounds pretty right. ---
**Author:** ![Odinoneeye](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/97f17d/32.png) [@Odinoneeye](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odinoneeye)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/23 "2004-11-13T03:12:45Z")
Remember though, Bob and Midge have done a lot of experimenting in their relationship. Including being with other couples. I wouldn’t have put it past them to have done this with a black couple. They would probably want to try it for the novelty. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/24 "2004-11-13T03:25:19Z")
That’s true. And heck, Midge was in California for a while. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/25 "2004-11-13T03:27:53Z")
> [@Kel Varnsen - Latex Division](#): > > Wait, Hyde is half black? That explains his blonde hair. It explains his **frizzy** hair. And his distrust of The Man. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 5:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/26 "2004-11-13T05:36:15Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Like a few seasons ago when Donna accused Eric of “stalking” her. No one used that term in 1979. I found “stalk” used that way in _The New York Times_ in 1980. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/27 "2004-11-13T06:06:13Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > I found “stalk” used that way in _The New York Times_ in 1980. One appearance in an upscale publication does not put it in the vernacular. ---
**Author:** ![Bryan\_Ekers](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bryan_ekers/32/183_2.png) [@Bryan\_Ekers](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bryan_Ekers)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/28 "2004-11-13T06:17:33Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > One appearance in an upscale publication does not put it in the vernacular. I’m pretty sure the 1975 TV movie [_Death Stalk_](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0071401/) wasn’t about poisonous celery. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 13, 2004, 6:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/29 "2004-11-13T06:27:49Z")
Well, it’s been discussed here [before…](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=246042&highlight=stalking) ---
**Author:** ![photopat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/e95f7d/32.png) [@photopat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/photopat)\ **Post date:** [November 15, 2004, 4:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/30 "2004-11-15T16:31:23Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Given that the episode broadcast on December 17, 2003, was set on Christmas Eve 1979, do you really think it’s possible for them to stay in the '70s? Sure. This years Christmas episode would still be set in 1979. This is a _TV show_. They don’t have to be chronologically accurate unless they want to. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/31 "2004-11-17T01:13:00Z")
Black males in Kenosha County, Wisconsin, in 1970: 977 In 1980: 1,440 ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/32 "2004-11-17T01:58:26Z")
I think they purposely avoid setting a timeline, and instead jump all over the the seventies-like in one episode, they’re going to see _Star Wars_ which came out in 1977, and the very next episode, Gerald Ford is president, when he left office in January of that same year. It’s supposed to be vague. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/33 "2004-11-17T02:05:02Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > I think they purposely avoid setting a timeline, and instead jump all over the the seventies-like in one episode, they’re going to see _Star Wars_ which came out in 1977, and the very next episode, Gerald Ford is president, when he left office in January of that same year. It’s supposed to be vague. Actually, Ford’s visit was during the first season. The Star Wars episode was the first-season finale. So it was a bit of a jump, but not a jump backwards. ---
**Author:** ![kittenblue](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/ba8739/32.png) [@kittenblue](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kittenblue)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/34 "2004-11-17T03:13:09Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Given that the episode broadcast on December 17, 2003, was set on Christmas Eve 1979, do you really think it’s possible for them to stay in the '70s? Since the 80’s didn’t really start until 1983, I think they are safe. What? What’s not to understand? ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/35 "2004-11-17T03:39:01Z")
Hmm, to me the 1980s began on 4 November 1979 when the U.S. Embassy in Tehran was taken hostage. The rage at America’s impotence propelled Reagan into office twelve months later. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 3:51am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/36 "2004-11-17T03:51:18Z")
Rilchiam writes: \> But the writers of this show often don’t seem to know the difference between \> the '70s and the '90s. Like a few seasons ago when Donna accused Eric \> of “stalking” her. No one used that term in 1979. It appears to me from what I just read in a dictionary of new words in English that the terms “stalking” and “stalker” didn’t start being used for people following other people till the early 1980’s. Furthermore, at that point the terms were used just for nobodies who followed celebrities. The terms didn’t start applying to a person following a regular person (with the idea that they could force them to fall in love with them) until the early 1990’s. ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 5:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/37 "2004-11-17T05:07:28Z")
I was stalked in 1987 and stalker was not in general use to discribe this phenomenom, by 1989 it was in common use. ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/38 "2004-11-17T06:06:43Z")
lee writes: \> I was stalked in 1987 and stalker was not in general use to discribe this \> phenomenom, by 1989 it was in common use. Wow, that’s amazingly precise. How do you happen to remember that the term was generally used in 1989 but not in 1987? Excuse my scepticism, but it’s not easy to see how you could remember that a word was used 15 years ago but not 17 years ago. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 6:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/39 "2004-11-17T06:20:44Z")
A new slang word or colloquialism often occurs in speech years before it appears in print. If _The New York Times_ first used “stalk” in that sense in 1981, it may have been already floating around in popular speech (e.g., like that of Midwestern teenagers). It was adapted from a hunting term, after all. Who is more likely to be or know hunters, _New York Times_ writers or Wisconsinites? ---
**Author:** ![lee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lee/32/7455_2.png) [@lee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lee)\ **Post date:** [November 17, 2004, 1:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349/40 "2004-11-17T13:03:25Z")
> [@Wendell Wagner](#): > > lee writes: > > \> I was stalked in 1987 and stalker was not in general use to discribe this > \> phenomenom, by 1989 it was in common use. > > Wow, that’s amazingly precise. How do you happen to remember that the term was generally used in 1989 but not in 1987? Excuse my scepticism, but it’s not easy to see how you could remember that a word was used 15 years ago but not 17 years ago. In 1987 I graduated from high school and went to college. As a result of being stalked and the sequelae, I dropped out of college that year and moved to a new town. I got married in 1989. I explained to a lot of people why I dropped out of college the first time and it became a lot easier the year I got married. I think there were some made for TV movies on the subject and some news magazine programs and day time talk shows that brought the word to common use between those times. The first year people were pretty skeptical, but by 1989, they had all heard of that sort of thing happening and were sympathetic. That is how I just _happen_ to remember. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/that-70s-show-another-anachronism/274349.md?page=3)