Here are 7 current trends that are older than you think!
7 – Modern day texting
Are you one of those people saying that “kids these days” can’t communicate or don’t
know how to communicate with all of those encrypted text messages containing random
letters and numbers but no actual words?
While I agree that some people shouldn’t have skipped the language classes in school,
or at least paid much more attention, I don’t think that the modern generation is at fault.
If you think about it, people use abbreviations only because they’re too lazy to write out
the full word.
Then, there are those people who like to come up with the coolest new word or slang to use.
Technology has spoiled us so much that we’re all lazy sometimes but if you think that abbreviations
and interesting choices of words dominated written language only recently, you’ll have
to think again.
As a matter of fact, there was an article published in November 1890 that talked about
some quote “peculiar conversational abbreviations” used by two telegraph operators.
Apparently, these two were rather bored during the days when they didn’t have a lot of
work, so they figured out a way to talk and get to know each other.
They’d start their day with the letters GM and end it with the letters GN – good
morning and good night.
Or they’d ask each other how they were and they’d reply with a shortened version of
“feeling well” or “not really”.
They also used the letter R for the word ‘are’ and the letter U for the word ‘you’, exactly
as how a lot of people do today.
And they’d even write “ha comma ha” when they found something funny – apparently,
the word HA was the LOL of the 19th century!
Considering the amount of time needed to write words in Morse code, it’s no wonder they
used abbreviations.
Wow, what’s that say about us?
Check this out too: you know how you can recognize some of your friends just by the style of
texting?
Well, operators were able to do the same thing by the style of a person’s tapping, because
apparently, different operators had different styles of tapping.
Supposedly they could even recognize whether a man or a woman was on the other side of
the line!
6 – Cat pictures
Is your Instagram feed full of chubby little kittens, or cats who act like humans?
Do cat pictures take up more room on your phone than actual human pictures?
Aside from the fact that you probably need some sort of therapy, ok, ok, just playing,
you’ll probably be happy to hear that you’re not alone!
Who doesn’t enjoy a funny cat pic or 14?
Millions of people all enjoy some funny cat pics for a quick laugh but also as an excuse
to you know… procrastinate, be lazy, and put off work!
While the lion may be the king of the jungle, domestic cats are the kings of the Internet.
Actually, probably more like gods considering how many people adore these fluffy guys on
. Cats on the internet is probably a phenomenon here to stay.
Cats are truly amusing sometimes.
Seriously, what other animal would enjoy sitting in an imaginary box marked on the floor with
duct tape only?
Anyway, human fascination with cats has been around for longer than most people think.
British photographer Harry Pointer used to take hilarious shots of cats all the way back
in the 1870s.
He’d dress them up and have them pose in front of various everyday objects.
He’d even add funny remarks under the pictures.
Boom, you got cat memes right there.
I bet he would’ve had millions of Instagram followers if he’d lived in the 21st century
because what’s better than a seriously looking cat in a funny situation on the internet?!
5 – Drinking with straws Come on, let’s admit it, sometimes drinking
out of a straw is the only way to drink a certain drink, such as a nice tall mojito
or some other tall cocktail.
They’re pretty common, and to be honest, you really can’t leave the house without
seeing someone drinking an iced latte with a straw in public.
But you didn’t really think you’d have to thank a major corporation such as McDonald’s
or Starbucks for having straws in your life did you?!
The answer is of course, no.
Turns out people have been drinking from straws for a LONG time.
It’s definitely inexplicable in how drinking from a straw just feels nicer than drinking
with a cup to your lips for some reason.
The first known straws were made by the Sumerians, and were used for drinking beer.
Can you imagine the looks you’d get if you were drinking beer with a straw nowadays?
Anyway, they probably used straws because they wanted to avoid the solid byproducts
of fermentation that was at the bottom.
The oldest drinking straw in existence was found in a Sumerian tomb dated 3,000 B.C.E.
In the 1800s, the rye grass straw came into fashion because it was cheap and soft, but
it had an unfortunate tendency to turn to mush in liquid.
To address these problems, Marvin C. Stone patented the modern drinking straw, made of
paper, in 1888.
He came up with the modern straw while drinking a mint julep on a hot day in Washington, D.C.;
the taste of the rye was mixing with the drink and giving it a grassy taste…….ugh.
He first did it out of paper and glue, but over time, he refined his invention – and
the rest is history.
Now, thanks to him, we can all drink our tall cocktails or starbucks without it mixing with
any weird flavors!
4 – Gum chewing
While some people chew gum to freshen their breaths, others chew gum to calm their nerves.
No matter your reasons, gum is one of the bestselling products of the modern world because
of the fact that it’s cheap, tasty, annnnnd for some people, it gives a nice feeling for
them every time they pop a bubble and get on someone’s nerves!
For the company that produces the most chewing gum today, we can thank William Wrigley Jr.
In 1891, 29-year-old William Wrigley Jr. went to Chicago from Philadelphia with $32 and
the idea to start a business selling scouring soap.
Wrigley offered premiums as an incentive to buy his soap, such as baking powder.
Later, when his company switched to the baking powder business, he began offering two packages
of chewing gum for each purchase of a can of baking powder.
This guy was the king of promotion and marketing and definitely knew how to place his product
on the market.
On one occasion, he even sent free samples to every American family registered in the
phone book which was kind of a big deal for 1915.
Oh yeah, he’s THE Wrigley of Wrigley Fields, home of the 2016 World Series Champions, the
Chicago Cubs.
Noooo, I’m not a cubs fan, just saying.
Anyways, enough about Wrigley.
Let’s get back to the gum chewing, which goes wayyyyy back in time.
Chewing gum in many forms has existed since the Neolithic period.
6,000-year-old chewing gum made from birch bark tar, with tooth imprints, has been found
in Finland.
The Aztecs, as the ancient Mayans before them, used chicle, a natural tree gum, as a base
for making a gum-like substance and to stick objects together in everyday use.
Although chewing gum can be traced back to civilizations around the world, the modernization
and commercialization of this product mainly took place in the US.
The American Indians chewed resin made from the sap of spruce trees.
The New England settlers picked up this practice, and in 1848, John B. Curtis developed and
sold the first commercial chewing gum called The State of Maine Pure Spruce Gum.
We actually rediscovered chewing gum through our Native Americans.
3 – The finger
Did you think that giving someone the finger was just something people do when they ran
out of arguments in the last hundred years or so?
Nah, not really.
The first ever record of someone giving another person the finger goes alllllll the way back
to Ancient Greece.
But the greeks weren’t the only ones in the ancient world; the fingere was also used
in Ancient Rome.
Aristophane mentioned it in his comedy “The Clouds” in 432 BC.
In Greek the middle finger gesture was known as katapygon.
But, the term katapygon also referred to men who, ummmmm, quote “submits himself to anal
penetration”.
Yeahhhhhh.
Since the Ancient Greeks were the perfect gentlemen, katapygaina was coined for the
ladies, for the same thing by the way.
The Romans followed with their “digitus impudicus” which meant shameless, indecent
or offensive finger, although what they called the middle finger sounds rather scientific
and not even slightly offensive.
Well, whatever the romans wanted to call it, although they definitely didn’t make it
sound offensive at all, I’m sure it still got the trick done.
2 – Selfies and selfie sticks
Do you feel like your selfie game is strong enough?
You think you got your duck face, Snapchat dog ears, and face swaps down?!
You think millennials were the first to take selfies?!
Well, think again, because I’ve a newsflash for you Walter Cronkite – selfies and selfie
sticks have been around much longer than you think!
Let’s face it – almost everyone has done a selfie; whether it’s outta vanity or outta
necessity.
They were even popular way back in 1839 when this guy named Robert Cornelius took the world’s
first and oldest known selfie.
On the back of the photograph he called his picture, quote, “the first light picture
ever taken, 1839”.
Okay, maybe I’m stretching the truth just a bit by saying it was popular way back in
1839, because let’s face it, who really wants to sit in front of a camera for 10-15
minutes back then?
Anyways, with the invention and proliferation of cell phones with amazing cameras, selfies
became more and more popular.
Selfie sticks also have gotten tremendously popular because they allow you to get a much
better perspective of whatever pose you’re striking.
Along with the growth of social media and people hunting for likes, the selfie is probably
here to stay.
Time magazine had the selfie stick in their top 25 inventions of the year 2014.
Should I say fake news to Time magazine?!
Did you know that even though the selfie stick’s been trending in the last few years, it was
actually invented way before?
The selfie stick was actually invented back in 1983, and it was a flop.
In fact, it was featured in this book called 101 Un-useless Japanese Inventions which was
published back in 1995.
Though they really couldn’t publish worse selfies to explain the selfie stick, the book
also featured actual nonsense such as the duster slippers for cats to help around the
household.
You probably get the idea now why many didn’t take the content seriously.
Fast forward to 2017 and selfies and selfie sticks are so popular now that it’s safe
to say they’ve changed the way people practice photography.
1 – Dieting & calorie restrictions
The human obsession with the perfect body isn’t something Hollywood imposed on us
with celebrities parading around and setting body images for the rest of the world.
The trend of dieting and imposing caloric restriction is a trend that’s been around
for quite a while, since the 16th century to be exact.
If you thought bodybuilders and models were the only ones who did severe calorie restrictions,
then listen to this story of Luigi Cornaro, who wrote several books on caloric restriction.
This guy lived in Venice in the 16th century and would’ve been considered a life coach
and slimming expert today with his pretty inspiring story.
He followed a decadent lifestyle thought normal for the nobles at the time, which I’m gonna
guess that meant eating, drinking, and sleeping with as many women as possible.
Then, one day, he woke up at the age of 40 and realized he’d been feeling exhausted
for a while now – I mean, I can imagine it to be quite exhausting to sleep with women
and drink wine all the day long.
So following his doctor’s advice, he began practicing calorie restriction.
He ate less than a pound of food per day and drank around 13 ounces of wine, and that was
it for the whole day.
He did indeed lived for a long time.
Some sources suggest he died at the age of 98, while others have him living all the way
until he was 102!
Here’s what’s next!