# '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:** 7
**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 15, 2026, 12:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/121 "2026-08-15T00:43:53Z")
Ooh, here’s one I just remembered: Shakespeare could have used a graphite pencil, which was a Tudor-era invention. ---
**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 15, 2026, 12:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/122 "2026-08-15T00:57:03Z")
From the Interesting Facts thread a while back: > [@Tell us an interesting random fact you stumbled across (Part 2)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/tell-us-an-interesting-random-fact-you-stumbled-across-part-2/1004785/4597): > > The last samurai died in the 1870s, Lincoln was assassinated in 1865, and early fax technology (the “printing telegraph”) was patented in 1843. This creates a 22-year window (1843–1865) where Abraham Lincoln could have received a fax from a samurai. ---
**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 15, 2026, 1:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/123 "2026-08-15T01:15:55Z")
Those ‘surprising timeline’ facts are a pretty interesting thing themselves, and I’ve heard a few good ones. A couple more that come to mind that have surprised me are - the last state-sanctioned French execution by Guillotine happened a little bit after the premier of Star Wars. The reign of Cleopatra was further removed in time from the building of the pyramids than from the creation of the iPhone. ---
**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 15, 2026, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/124 "2026-08-15T01:30:47Z")
President John Tyler’s last surviving grandson died in 2025. ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/125 "2026-08-15T02:03:41Z")
Contact lenses were a thing starting in the late 1930s. In 1937, 3,000 Americans wore them. LBJ wore them in 1964. ---
**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 15, 2026, 2:08am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/126 "2026-08-15T02:08:27Z")
That’s a good false anachronism! I like it. …and somehow, coming from you, seems not unexpected 🧐 ---
**Author:** ![Crafter\_Man](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/crafter_man/32/458_2.png) [@Crafter\_Man](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Crafter_Man)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 2:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/127 "2026-08-15T02:13:44Z")
> [@solost](#): > > …and somehow, coming from you, seems not unexpected 🧐 We (The Residents) do not need, nor want, artificial appendages over our eyeballs to see things more clearly. ---
**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 15, 2026, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/128 "2026-08-15T02:18:40Z")
Glad to hear it. But, does that sound like Heaven? No, more like Hell! ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/129 "2026-08-15T03:03:33Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > LBJ wore them in 1964 Hell, _I_ wore them in 1966. ---
**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 15, 2026, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/130 "2026-08-15T04:32:00Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > We (The Residents) Did you see that they’re touring again? ---
**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 15, 2026, 4:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/131 "2026-08-15T04:32:04Z")
> [@solost](#): > > …The reign of Cleopatra was further removed in time from the building of the pyramids than from the creation of the iPhone. Wow, I had no idea! ---
**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 15, 2026, 6:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/132 "2026-08-15T06:07:49Z")
Yeah, people tend to underestimate the astonishing duration of the civilization of ancient Egypt. If you divide world history into “ancient Egypt” and “everything that came after ancient Egypt”, the latter is only about 2/3 as long as the former. ---
**Author:** ![Pleonast](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pleonast/32/1183_2.png) [@Pleonast](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pleonast)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/133 "2026-08-15T15:07:58Z")
One of the advantages of being one of earliest cultures to use a writing system is that you get to start writing history before everyone else. ---
**Author:** ![Shakester](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shakester/32/437_2.png) [@Shakester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shakester)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/134 "2026-08-15T15:24:25Z")
_Theirs_, like _his_, _hers_, _yours_, _ours_, does not need a possessive apostrophe because those words are all possessives already. ---
**Author:** ![SunUp](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ea5d25/32.png) [@SunUp](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SunUp)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 3:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/135 "2026-08-15T15:33:42Z")
Joe Haldeman has a short story, “Manifest Destiny” in the collection _Dealing In Futures_. It’s told in the first person, and in his author’s notes about the story he writes about how he wanted to get the viewpoint character’s diction correct for the story. He hunted through several dictionaries of slang, noting dates of use and the like. He also writes: > I came across dozens of expressions I couldn’t use because, although they were contemporary with the story, they sounded too modern. He could call a policeman a pig, for example, or use the expression ‘take a back seat to.’ More language focused than tech focused, but I thought it relevant. ---
**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 15, 2026, 4:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/136 "2026-08-15T16:21:52Z")
Mesopotamian civilization is as old, but its history is more fragmented because Egypt was only rarely invaded whereas Mesopotamia was repeatedly ravaged by war. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [August 15, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/137 "2026-08-15T16:40:24Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > Several governments competed to make a working death ray gun back in the 1920s. One impetus for the invention of radar was the rumor that the Germans had invented a death ray during WW I. The radio engineers in the British Army who looked at it quickly figured out it was impossible for the technogy at the time, but it did start the idea of radar. The Romans had a multi-use knife, kind of a pocket knife except pockets were not invented yet. ---
**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 15, 2026, 4:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/138 "2026-08-15T16:40:59Z")
> [@Crafter\_Man](#): > > Contact lenses were a thing starting in the late 1930s. In 1937, 3,000 Americans wore them. LBJ wore them in 1964. Glass contact lenses date back to the 1880s. They didn’t become commercially available until later, but I read a not-by-Doyle Sherlock Holmes story in which he wore contact lenses to change his eye color. An unlikely but possible scenario. The 1930s marks when PMMA plastic contact lenses became available ---
**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 15, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/139 "2026-08-15T17:51:19Z")
> [@SunUp](#): > > More language focused than tech focused, but I thought it relevant. No, that’s a good one. Exactly what the thread is about. The term ‘Tiffany Effect’ was created by a novelist who encountered the same thing. ---
**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 15, 2026, 6:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267/140 "2026-08-15T18:55:05Z")
Emile Zola’s novel _ **Au bonheur des dames** _ was written in 1882 and took place in the late 1860s. There’s a scene with the grand opening of a department store and I was surprised by the mention of giving away latex balloons with the name of the store written on them. > What a stroke of genius this balloon bonus was, distributed to each shopper, red balloons, with thin rubber skin, bearing in large letters the name of the store, and which, held at the end of a thread, traveling in the air, carried a living advertisement through the streets! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=6) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-tiffany-effect-false-anachronisms/1032267.md?page=8)