Recent anachronisms
Mar. 29th, 2004 11:05 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
spatchEvery now and then you realize that a phrase or an action that you remember as common or prevalent or even well-loved has become, due to time and changing social customs and blah blah blah, an anachronism. One of the more observed recent anachronisms is the phrase "You sound like a broken record" which, to anybody under 18, must sound more like the whine of an Olympic has-been rather than an annoying repetition.
This morning I woke up with another one, though it's kinda convoluted. There's an exchange in The Rocky Horror Picture Show where Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite, asks Brad, the "hero", if he has any tattoos. When Brad bristles and says "Certainly not!" Frank asks the same of Janet, the "heroine", who then giggles a bit. Then those of us watching holler "SHOW HIM THE BATTLESHIP, JANET!" and it's all fun, we share a laugh and celebrate the moments of our lives.
Anyway.
The line was written thirty years ago, when tattoos pretty much were reserved for the realm of the freaks (and servicemen, oddly enough.) Nowadays (ack, did I actually just say "nowadays"? next I'll be talking about "kids these days") tattoos are much more, well, mainstream. I think my mom was even thinking of getting one recently. The shock value of the transvestite asking the straight-laced American "hero" (and his fiancee) about tattoos is lost now, as well as the cultural connotations inherent at the time.
So. Anyone else notice any other "modern" anachronisms recently? Go ahead and share; you've got time. I'm makin' English muffins so I got a few minutes here.
This morning I woke up with another one, though it's kinda convoluted. There's an exchange in The Rocky Horror Picture Show where Frank-N-Furter, the sweet transvestite, asks Brad, the "hero", if he has any tattoos. When Brad bristles and says "Certainly not!" Frank asks the same of Janet, the "heroine", who then giggles a bit. Then those of us watching holler "SHOW HIM THE BATTLESHIP, JANET!" and it's all fun, we share a laugh and celebrate the moments of our lives.
Anyway.
The line was written thirty years ago, when tattoos pretty much were reserved for the realm of the freaks (and servicemen, oddly enough.) Nowadays (ack, did I actually just say "nowadays"? next I'll be talking about "kids these days") tattoos are much more, well, mainstream. I think my mom was even thinking of getting one recently. The shock value of the transvestite asking the straight-laced American "hero" (and his fiancee) about tattoos is lost now, as well as the cultural connotations inherent at the time.
So. Anyone else notice any other "modern" anachronisms recently? Go ahead and share; you've got time. I'm makin' English muffins so I got a few minutes here.
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(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 08:49 am (UTC)But on that same theme, I haven't seen a "carbon copy" of anything since elementary school.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 08:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 08:57 am (UTC)The old credit-card imprinting devices are among the last things that still use actual carbon paper to copy (as opposed to that newfangled pressure-sensitive stuff that doesn't have a separate carbon sheet).
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 09:04 am (UTC)I wonder how many people don't know what "CC:" means...
(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 09:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 09:55 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-03-29 11:34 am (UTC)