# '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:** 6
**Author:** ![yendis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/ed8c4c/32.png) [@yendis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/yendis)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 3:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/101 "2026-08-13T15:12:03Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > Uwu-speak dates back at least to the Crimean War: Imagine dragging yourself back from the ‘Valley of Death’ and a fellow donkey-walloper greats you with, “Sowwy that must have been vewwy howwid.” Their’s not to weason why, Their’s not to make weply, Their’s but to do and die, Into the valley of Death Wode the six hundwed. ---
**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 13, 2026, 3:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/102 "2026-08-13T15:19:18Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > Their’s not to weason why, > Their’s not to make weply, > Their’s but to do and die, > Into the valley of Death > Wode the six hundwed. (followed by Elmer Fudd’s _heh-heh-heh-heh-heh_) (“Be vewy vewt kwiet. We’re hunting Cwimeans!”) ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 3:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/103 "2026-08-13T15:31:34Z")
> [@yendis](#): > > Their’s not to weason why, > Their’s not to make weply, > Their’s but to do and die, > Into the valley of Death > Wode the six hundwed. When I was trying to find that meme, I Googled “victorian english cavalry uwu speak,” and the AI-generated summary was exactly this - “Charge of the Light Brigade” as written by a catgirl. ---
**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 13, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/104 "2026-08-13T15:39:42Z")
I’m pretty sure that speech affectation was what The Princess Bride was parodying with the “Mawwiage” scene. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/105 "2026-08-13T15:50:20Z")
Of course. Look at the size of the sideburns Cook has. Then compare that to portraits of cavalrymen back in the day. Same look. ---
**Author:** ![Kropotkin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kropotkin/32/18045_2.png) [@Kropotkin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kropotkin)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/106 "2026-08-13T18:49:32Z")
“Him and his 5,999 friends all named Spartacus!” ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/107 "2026-08-13T18:53:19Z")
Well, of course, we need to line the Appian Way. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 13, 2026, 10:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/108 "2026-08-13T22:01:38Z")
ISTM if you could afford slaves, you were rich and could afford one who can cook and therefore were not dependent on takeout. Back in ancient times, slaves were expensive (a few years’ worth of average wages), not cheap and plentiful [like today](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slavery_in_the_21st_century). ---
**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 13, 2026, 10:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/109 "2026-08-13T22:27:42Z")
In _High Noon_ (1952), the bartender responds to one of Gary Cooper’s lines with a very 21st-century-inflected “Oh-KAYYYYY!” ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 12:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/110 "2026-08-14T00:46:41Z")
I cannot speak for inflections, but [the word itself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK) is not an anachronism. It has been documented in print in 1839, and there are disputed claims from 1790 and 1815. The movie was set post-Civil War. ---
**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 14, 2026, 12:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/111 "2026-08-14T00:59:42Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > I cannot speak for inflections, but [the word itself](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OK) is not an anachronism. It has been documented in print in 1839 Yeah. We’ve all heard about the gunfight at the “Oh-KAYYYYY! Corral" ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 1:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/112 "2026-08-14T01:03:31Z")
> [@mbh](#): > > The movie was set post-Civil War. I read you can see a 37 star flag? ---
**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 14, 2026, 2:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/113 "2026-08-14T02:22:19Z")
Actually, 37-star American flags date back to the year 1317. ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 1:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/114 "2026-08-14T13:57:44Z")
Going back to the thermopoleums, I’m currently reading Lindsey Davis’ Flavia Albia series\* and the cookshops play a vital role in the main character’s life. In the first few books, she goes to her aunt’s thermopoleum to meet her boyfriend at breakfast, and during the course of the mysteries the food stands are good places to gather information and talk to suspects. Everybody has to go there, after all, since most apartments didn’t have kitchens. The most she would have in her flat would be some rolls she picked up the day before or leftovers from dinner at her parents’ house (where they had a kitchen and a cook). Of course if you want meat, you’d have to get invited to dinner at a rich person’s house or get in good with the staff at the thermopoleum. They were only legally allowed to serve pulses, but there was generally someone’s grandma making a pot of meat stew in the kitchen. Totally not for sale to the public, legate, why would you even think we would break the law like that? \*The next series after the Marcus Didius Falco mysteries mentioned upthread ---
**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 14, 2026, 3:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/115 "2026-08-14T15:03:32Z")
What did Roman law have against serving meat? ---
**Author:** ![Catamount](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/catamount/32/2840_2.png) [@Catamount](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Catamount)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/116 "2026-08-14T15:14:36Z")
I honestly can’t remember. It was explained in one of the books but I’ll have to look it up ---
**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 14, 2026, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/117 "2026-08-14T15:18:23Z")
I’d imagine it was justified to the plebians as ensuring that food prices would stay low, while being supported by the Great Families as enforcing yet another class distinction between Us and Them. ---
**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 14, 2026, 3:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/118 "2026-08-14T15:39:33Z")
I don’t know anything about ancient Roman law, but medieval and Renaissance cities had pretty strict food safety laws targeting vendors (which would, for the most part, have been effective – they knew from experience _which practices_ raised the risk of food-borne illness, even if they didn’t know _why_). I’d guess that serving meat that had been kept hot, but maybe not quite hot enough, for hours would be right up there on the list of things to forbid. ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/119 "2026-08-14T15:43:21Z")
> [@Chronos](#): > > I’d imagine it was justified to the plebians as ensuring that food prices would stay low, while being supported by the Great Families as enforcing yet another class distinction between Us and Them. Perhaps Romans did not cram themselves with 100% meat for every meal, but it is misleading and false to suggest that you could not go and buy whatever the fast-foot joint had on offer. This popular spot, for example, had jars preserved from its last day of operation found containing duck, pork cracklings, goat, fish, and sea urchins, consistent with the displayed menu: > **[The Thermopolium Project – Eithni's Keep](https://eithni.com/thermopolium/)** > **[Thermopolium Rome Guide 2026: The Pompeii Street Food Shop and the Ancient...](https://italyplanner.com/thermopolium.html)** > > Thermopolium complete guide 2026, the ancient Roman street food counter (the thermopolium) and its best surviving example at Pompeii (the Thermopolium of Regio V, excavated 2019-2020): the discovery, the food residues, what Romans actually ate for... ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [August 14, 2026, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/120 "2026-08-14T15:59:25Z")
Could you elaborate on this? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=5) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=7)