155. The Tiffany Problem
The Allusionist
Helen Zaltzman
4.7 • 3.8K Ratings
🗓️ 27 May 2022
⏱️ 20 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The name Tiffany has been around for some 800 years. But you can't name a character in a historical novel 'Tiffany', because people don't believe the name is old. Science fiction and fantasy author Jo Walton coined the term "The Tiffany Problem" to express the disparity between historical facts and the common perception of the past.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | This is the illusionist in which I, Helen Salzman, spot a very glamorously dressed language |
| 0:09.3 | eating a breakfast pastry outside a well-known jewelry store. |
| 0:13.2 | Today's episode is about anachronism, what really? |
| 0:16.9 | Anachronisms that are not actually anachronisms, so anachronisms? |
| 0:23.5 | Yay, glad to have curdled your linguistic milk straight out of the fridge. |
| 0:29.0 | As a reminder, there are transcripts for each episode, including this one, at the allusionist.org slash transcripts. |
| 0:36.0 | Also on the show's website, there are links about every episode's topic, and event listings, people in Australia, |
| 0:42.5 | keep an eye on those, because I'm coming your way in July. |
| 0:45.9 | More soon. |
| 0:47.7 | On with the show. |
| 0:48.9 | This episode is about a phenomenon called the Tiffany problem, and I just want to emphasise |
| 1:00.8 | to any and all listeners called Tiffany, you are not the problem, it's not your fault, it's |
| 1:06.5 | not you, it's everyone else. |
| 1:28.4 | The phrase the Tiffany problem was coined by the science fiction and fantasy author, Joe |
| 1:33.2 | Walton. |
| 1:34.2 | Here she is. |
| 1:35.2 | When did you talk about this problem, the is the Tiffany problem? |
| 1:40.2 | Tiffany is a name that sounds to us, modern. |
| 1:46.8 | It sounds like a modern name, it does not sound like an un-fashioned name, it doesn't |
| 1:54.1 | ring in our ears as authentically old. |
| 1:57.9 | It is a 12th century, and it tested in English and French documents, but in the 12th century. |
| 2:07.8 | It's true, Tiffany was quite a common name in medieval English and French. |
... |
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