/u/Hoppy_Croaklightly's posts in /r/askhistorians

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In one Calvin and Hobbes comic, Calvin imagines he's a future archaeologist trying to discern the purpose of a wire hanger. He imagines it served a religious function or was used for eating. Is there an infamous example in your field of a similar mis-identification of an artifact?

6052 upvotes

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What the earliest depiction of the sun wearing sunglasses?

1376 upvotes

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When did corporations begin using kinship terms like "family" to refer to their employees?

105 upvotes

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In old cartoons, a character will give alum to another character to make them pucker (notably in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Long-Haired Hare" Where did this trope come from? Did people just keep alum laying around for medicinal purposes?

28 upvotes

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What Was Really The Plan After Landing on the Moon?

17 upvotes

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When did people start attributing unsourced quotes to Confucius?

16 upvotes

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Was the confetti at ticker tape parades actually stock ticker tape? Was it bought in bulk or re-used?

13 upvotes

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Where did Charles De Gaulle get the figure of 246 varieties of cheese?

11 upvotes

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Among historians, how is the biography viewed as a sub-genre? Does it require particular considerations that other types of history writing do not?

10 upvotes

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What was behind the decision by the Taiping not to march on Beijing in 1853?

8 upvotes

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Title	Upvotes	Mark as read	Favorited	Rating	Add to a list
In one Calvin and Hobbes comic, Calvin imagines he's a future archaeologist trying to discern the purpose of a wire hanger. He imagines it served a religious function or was used for eating. Is there an infamous example in your field of a similar mis-identification of an artifact?	6052
What the earliest depiction of the sun wearing sunglasses?	1376
When did corporations begin using kinship terms like "family" to refer to their employees?	105
In old cartoons, a character will give alum to another character to make them pucker (notably in the Bugs Bunny cartoon "Long-Haired Hare" Where did this trope come from? Did people just keep alum laying around for medicinal purposes?	28
What Was Really The Plan After Landing on the Moon?	17
When did people start attributing unsourced quotes to Confucius?	16
Was the confetti at ticker tape parades actually stock ticker tape? Was it bought in bulk or re-used?	13
Where did Charles De Gaulle get the figure of 246 varieties of cheese?	11
Among historians, how is the biography viewed as a sub-genre? Does it require particular considerations that other types of history writing do not?	10
What was behind the decision by the Taiping not to march on Beijing in 1853?	8