You have probably already read a novel about Christopher Columbus or watched Pride and prejudice for the fiftieth time and to have been distracted for a few moments by a first name seeming too modern for the story, like Kevin or Fanny. You’re not alone, because this feeling is more common than you think and has a name: “the Tiffany effect” or “the Tiffany problem.”
Concerning this first name, Tiffany, it turns out to be taken from the historical name Theophania, which emerged in the 12the century. According to an article in Discover Magazine, the Tiffany effect occurs when we find an accurate historical fact unrealistic or anachronistic. The name Tiffany inspired the name of this phenomenon conceptualized by fantasy and science fiction author Jo Walton, because many people think it is a modern name even though it is centuries old .
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According to Jennifer Delfino, an anthropologist at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (United States), the Tiffany effect occurs when we are confronted with actions in content (books, sitcoms or films) that we consider them to be historically false because they seem too recent. For Jennifer Delfino, “it is the result of an education which leads us to think about culture and society in a certain way, in particular contexts”.
The truth about the past
Mammoths still existed when the pyramids of Egypt were built and there were automatic doors in ancient Greece. These two verified facts are, however, often objects of the Tiffany effect. According to Jennifer Delfino, the most interesting thing is to understand why thoughts around historical accuracy seem more important to us than knowing whether something is historically accurate: “People perceive things through a certain prism that leads them to jump to conclusions.”
For Ben Whately, linguist and co-founder of Memrise (an app for learning new languages), we have expectations about what the past was like based on our own perspectives, which may be wrong. For example, the Eiffel Tower was inaugurated the same year Nintendo was founded, in 1889. Yes: at the time, the Japanese company produced playing cards. Difficult to imagine when for us, Nintendo refers to video game consoles.
The Tiffany effect is important because it shows us how much we can make generalizations about the past without knowing whether the facts are true or not. Perhaps we should take a step back and re-evaluate our prejudices, just so we don’t become those old people who stand their ground and grumble when we tell them they’re wrong.
