# Was it a time traveler? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [February 20, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010 "2011-02-20T15:18:42Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Grrr](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/grrr/32/146_2.png) [@Grrr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Grrr)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/1 "2011-02-20T15:18:42Z")
**John DiFool** was kind enough to share [This link](http://cubiclebot.com/videos/time-traveler-spotted-in-charlie-chaplins-1928-film-the-circus/) in a thread in **GD** In short, it looks like a guy in drag talking on his cell phone in a 1928 movie. It’s very trippy. What are you’re theories on what this guy could be doing? FTR: I don’t really think it’s a time traveler. It does boggle the mind tho’. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/2 "2011-02-20T15:32:29Z")
Haven’t we discussed this before? ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Borgia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/larry_borgia/32/156_2.png) [@Larry\_Borgia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Borgia)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/3 "2011-02-20T15:35:50Z")
It’s an old woman holding her hand up to her face. I’ve seen an old woman do the exact same thing. ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 3:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/4 "2011-02-20T15:43:14Z")
Cell phones don’t work with out cell towers. Should be a picture of the cell tower for that area lying around somewhere . . . ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 4:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/5 "2011-02-20T16:24:07Z")
> [@Heyoka13](#): > > Cell phones don’t work with out cell towers. Should be a picture of the cell tower for that area lying around somewhere . . . Could be a satellite phone… ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/6 "2011-02-20T17:18:39Z")
It looks like she’s pulling the collar of the coat up around her, but the picture wasn’t that clear. ---
**Author:** ![Count\_Blucher](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Count\_Blucher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Count_Blucher)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/7 "2011-02-20T17:24:16Z")
Perhaps that other thread was started by a time traveler & the real discussion is happening… only… now… _awkward silence_ Imagine, posting through time. Could you tell Lincoln the play got a bad review? Could you Tweet Custer? What would you say? “Duude! You’re F-cked!” Of course getting Custer to even carry a phone might be a problem (the man wouldn’t even bring Gatling guns) . Then there’s signing him up for Twitter, getting blue check certified so it wasn’t one of the 10,000 people posing as Custer. (“Hey, George Armstrong Custer didn’t have a cousin Morty from Queens…”) And then there’s being read through all the angry Tweets he’d receive. (“What the Hell is ‘Team Sitting Bull’ and why would I care you’re on it? Lieutenant! Block these posters…!”) ---
**Author:** ![Heyoka13](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Heyoka13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Heyoka13)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/8 "2011-02-20T18:01:21Z")
> [@These are my own pants](#): > > Could be a satellite phone… Good one. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![Magiver](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/4491bb/32.png) [@Magiver](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Magiver)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/9 "2011-02-20T18:12:42Z")
> [@Czarcasm](#): > > Haven’t we discussed this before? Nothing like a little deja-vu while discussing time travel. ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/10 "2011-02-20T18:50:22Z")
[Czarcasm-Master of Search-Fu.](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=583094&highlight=Charlie+Chaplin) ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [February 20, 2011, 7:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/11 "2011-02-20T19:27:04Z")
Clearly it’s a time phone. A cell phone like device able to communicate across time. The towers only have to exist in one time frame, so none were necessary when the film was shot. She’s probably talking to someone in the future about the zebra statue. ---
**Author:** ![CT\_Damsel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/dfb087/32.png) [@CT\_Damsel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CT_Damsel)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/12 "2011-02-21T14:14:37Z")
Interplanetary time/space traveler. All the signals from earth go out into he cosmos. Someone from another planet liked the movie soooooo much they wanted to be part of it. ---
**Author:** ![Napier](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ce73a5/32.png) [@Napier](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Napier)\ **Post date:** [February 21, 2011, 11:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/13 "2011-02-21T23:20:29Z")
Is it a time traveler, or is it a fuzzy image of a gesture whose meaning isn’t obvious? Hmmm, decisions, decisions… If you hear hoofbeats, is it more likely a zebra, or a unicorn walking backwards and thinking about Ibsen? ---
**Author:** ![billfish678](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7bcc69/32.png) [@billfish678](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/billfish678)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 12:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/14 "2011-02-22T00:11:32Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > If you hear hoofbeats, is it more likely a zebra, or a unicorn walking backwards and thinking about Ibsen? Is that like laying back and thinking of England? ---
**Author:** ![Freudian\_Slit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@Freudian\_Slit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Freudian_Slit)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/15 "2011-02-22T00:18:42Z")
Old lady? That’s a man, baby! ---
**Author:** ![conway](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/ec9cab/32.png) [@conway](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/conway)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2011, 8:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/16 "2011-02-22T20:31:45Z")
> [@Freudian\_Slit](#): > > Old lady? That’s a man, baby! Austin Powers reference? You must be a time traveler. ---
**Author:** ![Kozmik](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/8dc957/32.png) [@Kozmik](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kozmik)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/17 "2011-02-23T01:46:54Z")
> [@Napier](#): > > Is it a time traveler, or is it a fuzzy image of a gesture whose meaning isn’t obvious? She’s mocking cell phone users obviously. ---
**Author:** ![Markxxx](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5daacb/32.png) [@Markxxx](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Markxxx)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/18 "2011-02-23T02:34:45Z")
It’s like the episode of _the Burns And Allen Show_ (TV) where Geroge has two great ideas to make money. Frozen yogurt Diet beer Just a bit ahead of his time, like this lady was ---
**Author:** ![Mollie\_Magill](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mollie_magill/32/20882_2.png) [@Mollie\_Magill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mollie_Magill)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 1:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/19 "2011-02-23T13:02:59Z")
> [@These are my own pants](#): > > Could be a satellite phone… Please be a whoosh. Please be a whoosh. Please be a whoosh. ---
**Author:** ![Nars\_Glinley](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/nars_glinley/32/8177_2.png) [@Nars\_Glinley](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nars_Glinley)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2011, 9:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010/20 "2011-02-23T21:05:26Z")
It’s a communicator. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-it-a-time-traveler/572010.md?page=2)