# '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:** 3
**Author:** ![hajario](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hajario/32/171_2.png) [@hajario](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hajario)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/41 "2026-08-11T06:41:02Z")
No one thought that they invented it. The characters were using what was already very popular slang for years at that point. But only for a few years. The 19th century uses are similar but the usage in the 1980s developed separately. ---
**Author:** ![EinsteinsHund](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/einsteinshund/32/8400_2.png) [@EinsteinsHund](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/EinsteinsHund)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 11:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/42 "2026-08-11T11:24:48Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > 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 FWIW, I remember seeing a TV documentary that showed a functioning odometer the ancient Chinese used, which according to the show allowed them to measure long distances very precisely. Sorry, no cite, this is from memory. ---
**Author:** ![Fretful\_Porpentine](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fretful_porpentine/32/2873_2.png) [@Fretful\_Porpentine](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fretful_Porpentine)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 12:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/43 "2026-08-11T12:00:22Z")
_BRABANTIO: Thou art a villain!_ _IAGO: You are – a senator!_ One of the rare punch lines in Shakespeare that lands _better_ than on the day it was written. (Brabantio is a senator of the Republic of Venice, which actually had 'em.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 12:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/44 "2026-08-11T12:11:42Z")
> [@Fretful\_Porpentine](#): > > One of the rare punch lines in Shakespeare that lands _better_ than on the day it was written. Like the line in “No Time at All” from _Pippin_: “Sages tweet that age is sweet…” ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 12:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/45 "2026-08-11T12:37:27Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > One of the things discussed at the panel was the craze for green sunglasses in the early 19th century. I would have thought their popularity dated even earlier, considering a gross of green spectacles are a plot point in The Vicar of Wakefield (1766). ---
**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, 12:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/46 "2026-08-11T12:39:21Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I would have thought their popularity dated even earlier, considering a gross of green spectacles are a plot point in The Vicar of Wakefield (1766). I wasn’t aware of that. But you find a spike in reports of green sunglasses in the early 19th century ---
**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 11, 2026, 1:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/47 "2026-08-11T13:04:17Z")
A lot of great false anachronisms so far! RE: green sunglasses in the early 19th century, I got to wondering if they were tinted using arsenic, as so many other everyday items like clothing and book covers were colored green using an arsenic solution in that time period. But no, apparently not, at least according to Google’s AI: > In the early 19th century, green-tinted spectacles were created by adding metallic oxides (such as iron or copper) directly into the molten glass mixture during manufacturing, or by using naturally colored mineral glass. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/48 "2026-08-11T13:26:49Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > I would have thought their popularity dated even earlier, considering a gross of green spectacles are a plot point in The Vicar of Wakefield (1766). [Samuel Pepys, a century prior:](https://www.pepysdiary.com/diary/1666/12/24/) > I do truly find that I have overwrought my eyes, so that now they are become weak and apt to be tired, and all excess of light makes them sore, so that now to the candlelight I am forced to sit by, adding, the snow upon the ground all day, my eyes are very bad, and will be worse if not helped, so my Lord Bruncker do advise as a certain cure to use greene spectacles, which I will do. ---
**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, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/49 "2026-08-11T13:36:28Z")
> [@Skywatcher](#): > > Samuel Pepys, a century prior: I didn’t say that green spectacles didn’t _exist_ earlier, but that there was an increase in their popularity and use in the early 19th century. Nor am I the only one saying this: > In an essay called “The Optics of Green Spectacles” in the fall 2011 issue of The Edgar Allan Poe Review, Hiroko Washizu called attention to this trend in Poe’s written works, as well as the works of his contemporaries. Poe’s detective, C. Auguste Dupin, wears green spectacles in “The Purloined Letter” (1844) and in “The Mystery of Marie Rogêt” (1842), using them to hide the movements of his eyes (and his dozing). In “Bon-Bon (The Bargain Lost)” (1832), the devil wears green spectacles, using them to cover the blank spaces where his eyes should be. Further, Poe supposedly wrote (in an anonymous article attributed to him) that green spectacles were an abomination. > > Poe was not alone in describing green-spectacle-clad characters. Nathaniel Hawthorne made note of it on numerous occasions. In the novel _Fanshawe_ (1828), he observed that the highest class of scholars wore them, but noted in his _American Notebooks_ (1835–53) that the bumpkin did too, trying to imitate the habits of the elite. In _A Wonder Book_ (1851), he states that one character wears them “less for the protection of his eyes than for the dignity that they imparted to his countenance.” (That’s from a piece I wrote about the topic, in which I find that I DID cite “The Vicar of Wakefield”) There’s also this: > **[1850s Green Glasses](https://oldasadam.com/goods/1850s-green-glasses/)** > > Tinted green eyeglasses / metal and colored glass / c. 1850s > >   > > Pair of Victorian tinted spectacles, c. 1850s. The lenses are pale green and the frame design is ingenious, with nesting extension temples. These curious specs were not originally... [https://www.etsy.com/listing/217239227/antique-c-1815-1840-brass-green-glass](https://www.etsy.com/listing/217239227/antique-c-1815-1840-brass-green-glass) > **[Spectacles](https://www.londonmuseum.org.uk/collections/v/object-57715/spectacles/)** > Charles Dickens, in _The Pickwick Papers_ (1836), describes a “studious-looking” man wearing green spectacles, just as Hawthorne does. Beau Brummell, that one-man avant-garde of British fashion, was described as wearing green spectacles in a novel published in 1844, shortly after his death. In Washington Irving’s “The Devil and Tom Walker” (1824), Walker wears green spectacles. _The Class-Book of Anatomy_ (1837), by Jerome Smith, derides “the ridiculous mania” of wearing green spectacles, “which boys of a certain class seem to imagine adds wonderfully to the dignity of their appearance,” and condemns them as injurious to good vision. There are a great many other references to them by now-forgotten authors, in both fiction and non-fiction, from the first half of the 19th century. ---
**Author:** ![Dorjan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dorjan/32/12440_2.png) [@Dorjan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dorjan)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/50 "2026-08-11T13:40:12Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > It is plastic, and it is made from plants. Some plastics are. It is a polymer. All plastics are polymers, but not all polymers are plastics. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/51 "2026-08-11T13:43:27Z")
Were the green specs just a refinement of the green visors worn by bookkeepers and scribes. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 1:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/52 "2026-08-11T13:53:21Z")
See also the scene in Thomas Pynchon’s _Mason & Dixon_ where Ben Franklin takes the stage for a glass harmonica performance wearing “lenses of a curious shade of aquamarine, allowing his eyes to be view’d.” ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/53 "2026-08-11T14:12:28Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > I didn’t say that green spectacles didn’t _exist_ earlier, but that there was an increase in their popularity and use in the early 19th century. My intent there was simply an earlier datapoint for @hogarth. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![zimaane](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/a3d4f5/32.png) [@zimaane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zimaane)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 2:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/54 "2026-08-11T14:33:02Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > - **[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”. Charles Dickens used ‘fly’ in the sense of “sharp, smart” in Bleak House ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 2:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/55 "2026-08-11T14:51:55Z")
Which also has characters named Michael Jackson and Prince. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/56 "2026-08-11T18:41:49Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Some of the other examples given in the video were the fact that a coin-operated vending machine, dispensing holy water, existed in ancient Greece; Yeah, but that was a short term on off, until much later, it was not like coin-operated vending machines became popular or common after that. > [@furryman](#): > > I would have sworn that that was something that was invented around 2000 The difference is between Popular (or Popularized) vs first used. Like “Wendy” for a name- it occurred before Peter Pan, but it was unusual. After that- much more common. ---
**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 11, 2026, 6:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/57 "2026-08-11T18:51:05Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@solost](#): > > > > Some of the other examples given in the video were the fact that a coin-operated vending machine, dispensing holy water, existed in ancient Greece; > > Yeah, but that was a short term on off, until much later, it was not like coin-operated vending machines became popular or common after that. The point is that someone writing a historically accurate work of fiction about 1st Century CE Greece or Hero of Alexandria might be loathe to make any mention of a coin-operated vending machine, since it would seem to be an anachronism, even though it’s not. This is the ‘Tiffany Effect’. ---
**Author:** ![Yllaria](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/yllaria/32/3452_2.png) [@Yllaria](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Yllaria)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/58 "2026-08-11T18:53:23Z")
> [@JRDelirious](#): > > 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. I also enjoyed his episode about the research he did about Tiffany that didn’t make it into the ‘Tiffany’ episode. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 6:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/59 "2026-08-11T18:58:21Z")
> [@solost](#): > > The point is that someone writing a historically accurate work of fiction about 1st Century CE Greece or Hero of Alexandria might be loathe to make any mention of a coin-operated vending machine, since it would seem to be an anachronism, even though it’s not. Sure- for holy water, and the machine is very simple. But after that period, they went away. Romans were not getting Garum from a vending machine. 🤪 ---
**Author:** ![Treppenwitz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treppenwitz/32/3445_2.png) [@Treppenwitz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Treppenwitz)\ **Post date:** [August 11, 2026, 7:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/60 "2026-08-11T19:06:22Z")
Something I posted a couple of years ago fits pretty well here > [@Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 1)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-1/851674/9384): > > A couple of things which turnout to be way older than you thought, courtesy of a visit to the Archaeological Museum of Rhodes. Dating from around 700 BCE: magnifying glasses and cheese graters. I was actually stopped from photographing them (oops); but here are a couple of interesting cites. An interesting finding from Ialisos, dated between the 7th and 6th centuries BC, consists of a series of three magnifying glasses made of rock crystal and set in decorated bronze frames. The lenses, of dif… j [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=4)