# 'The Tiffany Effect': False anachronisms **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [August 10, 2026, 1:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267 "2026-08-10T13:12:54Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/21 "2026-08-10T18:19:11Z")
As a note, the CGP Grey YT channel has a whole episode on the subject of Tiffany-thru-the-ages that does tie in Theophany, the jewelry store and the book/movie, but somehow misses the 80s teen pop star who I’d imagine had quite an impact on imprinting the name as what he calls a “neon 80s” marker in the USA. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/22 "2026-08-10T18:23:55Z")
I would think that the 1960s and later would be as the result of Audrey Hepburn, despite not ever having played a character named “Tiffany.” ---
**Author:** ![Hypno-Toad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b2d939/32.png) [@Hypno-Toad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hypno-Toad)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/23 "2026-08-10T18:34:20Z")
> [@Toxgoddess](#): > > The musical _Chicago_, set in the 1920s, has a song called “Mr. Cellophane”. When we first heard it, we scoffed a bit (despite it being an awesome song) because surely cellophane wasn’t around in the 1920s! But it was. It was invented in 1908 and became a household product around 1924. That’s probably because people think it’s plastic. But it’s really made from plants/wood. The name is derived from cellulose, a component of plants cells. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/24 "2026-08-10T18:36:59Z")
> [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > I still do a double take when King Lear calls Goneril’s servant a “football player.” And from _Macbeth_ (probably first performed in 1606): ROSS That now Sweno, The Norways’ king, craves composition. Nor would we deign him burial of his men Till he disbursèd at Saint Colme’s Inch Ten thousand dollars to our general use… Shakespeare wasn’t thinking of U.S. dollars, obviously, but of thalers: [Thaler - Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thaler) ---
**Author:** ![Great\_Antibob](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e47c2d/32.png) [@Great\_Antibob](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Great_Antibob)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/25 "2026-08-10T18:48:45Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > That’s probably because people think it’s plastic. But it’s really made from plants/wood It is a plastic. Just not one derived from petrochemicals ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/26 "2026-08-10T18:49:26Z")
> [@solost](#): > > You are an exception, having known a Tiffany > born before the 80s. I think most people over 30 have known a Tiffany born before the '80s. > **[Tiffany Darwish](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_Darwish)** > > Tiffany Renee Darwish (born October 2, 1971), known mononymously as Tiffany, is an American pop singer. Her 1987 cover of the Tommy James and the Shondells song "I Think We're Alone Now" spent two weeks at No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and was released as the second single from her debut studio album, Tiffany. Her singles "Could've Been" and "I Saw Him Standing There", a cover version of the Beatles' "I Saw Her Standing There" were soon released. The former claimed the No. 1 position on... ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/27 "2026-08-10T18:56:07Z")
> [@Hypno-Toad](#): > > That’s probably because people think it’s plastic. But it’s really made from plants/wood. It is plastic, and it is made from plants. Some plastics are. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/28 "2026-08-10T18:57:29Z")
Emoticons similar to those today appeared in various [newspapers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon#/media/File:Emotikony-kurjer-warszawski-1881-tekst.png) and [magazines](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emoticon#/media/File:Emoticons_Puck_1881.png) in 1881. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/29 "2026-08-10T19:06:43Z")
In pro wrestling, once upon a time, an “American Indian” wrestler, either legitimate or just acting as one, often had move called the ‘tomahawk chop.’ I heard it first in the 1970s with Wahoo McDaniel, but it was used as far back as the 1940s. Sports teams adopted it much later. “Clothesline” as a verb goes back to the 1940s. I first heard it from wrestler Stan Hansen, as that was his finishing move at one time. In the 1940s, it apparently meant slinging a football out in a wide arc–not exactly sure on this one–but by the 1950s had evolved into catching someone the throat with an outstretched arm. ---
**Author:** ![gnoitall](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/bb73d2/32.png) [@gnoitall](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gnoitall)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/30 "2026-08-10T19:20:00Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > it is made from plants. Some plastics are. Like Rayon. Which, like cellophane, is “regenerated cellulose”. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/31 "2026-08-10T19:39:55Z")
> [@muldoonthief](#): > > And who could think that Tiffany was a name that started in the 1980s? The jewelry store opened in the 1830s. > [@Smapti](#): > > I think most people over 30 have known a Tiffany born before the '80s. Look, I didn’t name the term. You guys got a problem with it being known as ‘The Tiffany Effect’ or ‘The Tiffany Problem’, take it up with English novelist Nicola Cornick. > **[Tiffany problem](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tiffany_problem)** > > The Tiffany problem or Tiffany effect refers to the issue where a historical or realistic fact seems anachronistic or unrealistic to modern audiences of historical fiction, despite being accurate. This often occurs with names, terms, or practices that, although historically accurate, feel out of place because of modern associations. The term was coined in 2018 regarding the observation that despite the name Tiffany being commonly associated with the late 20th century, it dates from around 160 En... ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/32 "2026-08-10T19:45:09Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > I think most people over 30 have known a Tiffany born before the '80s. That’s who I thought of, but I think she’s alone now. Doesn’t seem to be anyone around. ---
**Author:** ![Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/earl_snake-hips_tucker/32/3269_2.png) [@Earl\_Snake-Hips\_Tucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Earl_Snake-Hips_Tucker)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/33 "2026-08-10T19:48:04Z")
Pretty similar to [Recency Illusion](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Recency_illusion), which seems to go back somewhat further, no later than 2011. ---
**Author:** ![furryman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/furryman/32/99_2.png) [@furryman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/furryman)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 7:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/34 "2026-08-10T19:50:42Z")
I was watching an episode of The Addams Family TV show where they were talking about something being gluten free. I would have sworn that that was something that was invented around 2000 ---
**Author:** ![JRDelirious](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jrdelirious/32/9531_2.png) [@JRDelirious](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JRDelirious)\ **Post date:** [August 10, 2026, 9:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/35 "2026-08-10T21:33:16Z")
> [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](#): > > > [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](#): > > > > I still do a double take when King Lear calls Goneril’s servant a “football player.” > > And from _Macbeth_ (probably first performed in 1606): > > … > Ten thousand dollars to our general use… The one that got me suppressing giggles was from _Henry V_ EXETER: Tennis balls, my liege …as my friend Leanna whispered in my ear “but were they green and fuzzy?” ---
**Author:** ![markn\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/f9ae1b/32.png) [@markn\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/markn_1)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/36 "2026-08-11T01:25:34Z")
Games similar to tennis date back to the 12th century. The name “tennis” was in use in English by around 1400. In Shakespeare’s play, the Dauphin’s gift of tennis balls to Henry was a sarcastic comment on Henry’s supposed youthful frivolousness. ---
**Author:** ![Lumpy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lumpy/32/446_2.png) [@Lumpy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lumpy)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/37 "2026-08-11T01:36:22Z")
I vaguely recall they made a pun by referring to some foodstuff as “glutton” instead of “gluten”. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 2:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/38 "2026-08-11T02:19:25Z")
Found my notes. Here are a few of those things: The Romans invented an odometer that would measure how far a cart traveled by dropping pebbles into a cup every x feet. There was a lengthy article about it in Scientific American. Later Lindsay Davis used it in one of her Marcus Didius Falco mysteries The terms :“computer”, “hologram”, and “Martian” are a lot older than you think, but the original meanings were different. “Disintegrator” precedes the notion of a “disintegrator beam” (a term first used in the late 1800s, by the way), but it meant something that ground materials. What was effectively a fax machine preceded the invention of the telephone. The first stereo movie appeared around 1870 (!!!) It was a repeating series of stereo photographs showing a reciprocating engine. The inventor was Jules Dubosqcq, and he called his device the “bioscope”. The images and the disc they’re stored on still exist and can be viewed here by the crossed-eye method > [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwCvFSGQwHg](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QwCvFSGQwHg) Long-lasting slang terms: **Enduring Slang** **Examples of Enduring Slang** - **[Cool](https://www.google.com/search?q=Cool&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&oq=slang+that+lasted+a+ong+time&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChirAjIHCAQQIRiPAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCjEyNzE3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBaJwK8fFNWGl&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfDCHWbS0Zb8YRGXb8ycJSpx0qGAWucvKZh7z7eYy3GHxJgZjLMpgyX9Nt0EoE-rloJt3eFo-159m5hWtYK99y8MtfQkb2KAW7UafaloC3O8oYaXOvON-evk-BFqt2xEmLA&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjpvbWrv-iRAxUDGVkFHZI2KgQQgK4QegQIAxAB)**: Evolved from jazz slang (“in the groove”) to describe something excellent and remains widely used, though its “dated” feel changes with trends. - **[Cop](https://www.google.com/search?q=Cop&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&oq=slang+that+lasted+a+ong+time&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChirAjIHCAQQIRiPAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCjEyNzE3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBaJwK8fFNWGl&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfDCHWbS0Zb8YRGXb8ycJSpx0qGAWucvKZh7z7eYy3GHxJgZjLMpgyX9Nt0EoE-rloJt3eFo-159m5hWtYK99y8MtfQkb2KAW7UafaloC3O8oYaXOvON-evk-BFqt2xEmLA&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjpvbWrv-iRAxUDGVkFHZI2KgQQgK4QegQIAxAD)**: From the verb “to take” (1704), it became police slang (1859) and is still used today (e.g., “cop a new pair of shoes”). - **[Beef](https://www.google.com/search?q=Beef&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&oq=slang+that+lasted+a+ong+time&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChirAjIHCAQQIRiPAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCjEyNzE3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBaJwK8fFNWGl&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfDCHWbS0Zb8YRGXb8ycJSpx0qGAWucvKZh7z7eYy3GHxJgZjLMpgyX9Nt0EoE-rloJt3eFo-159m5hWtYK99y8MtfQkb2KAW7UafaloC3O8oYaXOvON-evk-BFqt2xEmLA&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjpvbWrv-iRAxUDGVkFHZI2KgQQgK4QegQIAxAF)**: A word for a problem or dispute, potentially centuries old, still used today. - **[Fly](https://www.google.com/search?q=Fly&rlz=1C1VDKB_enUS1122US1128&oq=slang+that+lasted+a+ong+time&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChirAjIHCAQQIRiPAjIHCAUQIRiPAtIBCjEyNzE3ajBqMTWoAgiwAgHxBaJwK8fFNWGl&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&mstk=AUtExfDCHWbS0Zb8YRGXb8ycJSpx0qGAWucvKZh7z7eYy3GHxJgZjLMpgyX9Nt0EoE-rloJt3eFo-159m5hWtYK99y8MtfQkb2KAW7UafaloC3O8oYaXOvON-evk-BFqt2xEmLA&csui=3&ved=2ahUKEwjpvbWrv-iRAxUDGVkFHZI2KgQQgK4QegQIAxAH)**: Means stylish or knowledgeable, with uses noted from the 19th century, showing longevity in describing fashion or being “sharp”. - **Dope/Sick/Hella/Lit/Rizz/No Cap** : These are newer, but concepts like “dope” (excellent) and “lit” (exciting) show how new slang can become widely accepted and persist across generations before fading or being replaced. https://embed.reddit.com/r/linguistics/comments/855xyi/what_are_some_of_the_longest_actively_used_slang/?embed=true&ref_source=embed&ref=share ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 2:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/39 "2026-08-11T02:27:13Z")
She’ll be 55 in October? Wow, that makes ME feel old! There’s this classic photo from 1941 that DOES NOT include a time traveler. > **[The Mystery of the "1940s Time Traveller": The Changing Face of Online Brand...](https://www.museumsandtheweb.com/mw2011/papers/the_mystery_of_the_1940s_time_traveller_the_ch.html)** ---
**Author:** ![Askance](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/askance/32/8281_2.png) [@Askance](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Askance)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/40 "2026-08-11T06:18:12Z")
In the film Wayne’s World, the word “Not” is used at the end of a sentence to negate the assertion made in it, e.g. “Pearl Jam are an awesome band - NOT!!”. But they did not at all invent it;[there are actually uses of this in the 1800s](https://english.stackexchange.com/questions/40774/is-waynes-worlds-not-a-modern-invention): > 1860 ‘G. Eliot’ Mill on Floss III. vi. vi. 90 She would make a sweet, strange, troublesome, adorable wife to some man or other, but he would never have chosen her himself. Did she feel as he did? He hoped she did—not. > > 1888 Cincinnati Times-Star 26 July 2/2 Of course ‘White Wings’ was mourned because he was hissed. Yes he did—not!!! > > 1893 Princeton Tiger 30 Mar. 103 An Historical Parallel—Not. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=3)