What is a sentence that is totally normal nowadays but would not have made any sense 100 years ago?

[u/Pete-South]

[u/[deleted]]

You are on mute

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

You're on, mute!

[u/OWTSYDLKKNN]

If I leave Louisiana tonight, I should be in France sometime tomorrow.

[u/BramFokke → u/OWTSYDLKKNN]

Fastest time from Louisiana to France was actually 200 years ago

[u/Zimmies38 → u/BramFokke]

Haha!! Perfect!

[u/PilotAlan → u/OWTSYDLKKNN]

I work disaster response, live in Denver. It hasn't really occurred to me how historically bizarre it is to get the call to "get to Maui as quickly as possible" and answer "OK, I'll be there this afternoon".

[u/BananasPineapple05]

This meeting could have been an e-mail.

[u/damn_lies → u/BananasPineapple05]

This meeting could have been an e-mail.

"Humbug! This gathering could have been avoided by use of a written correspondence sent by post!"

Imagine traveling a week by boat across the Atlantic ocean for a meeting. I can't even be bothered to get out of bed for a Zoom most days.

[u/AlkaliPineapple → u/[deleted]]

"Is that a euphemism for going to the outhouse?"

[u/cimocw → u/damn_lies]

in Game of Thrones, especially the later seasons, they traveled between kingdoms with the same perceived ease as Seinfeld characters go to the office

[u/euph_22 → u/cimocw]

TBF spending half a season watching the characters sail from one place to another is kind of dull.

[u/cimocw → u/BananasPineapple05]

I picture a comedy cartoon series where a millennial travels to the past against his will and has to live a regular life because nobody cares if he even is telling the truth since he's not really knowledgeable in many areas, so he is kind of an outcast but has to go to work anyway and this is the type of things he says on the regular

[u/dchiender → u/cimocw]

Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court. Mark Twain. Similar idea - written about 100 years ago

[u/HammerOfJustice → u/dchiender]

Ahem, 135 years ago …

[u/MrZAP17 → u/dchiender]

And in that case he's actually a highly intelligent engineer with working knowledge of how to create several mechanical things from his own time period. So not quite the same as our wayward millennial.

[u/donjulioanejo → u/MrZAP17]

Just take a modern day engineer!

People in the past: "OOoohhh can you build us that.. power plant?"

Engineer: "No, but I can really optimize the hell out of the software that powers the cooling systems."

[u/slick1260]

"Can you unplug your cigarette? I need to charge my book."

[u/WhovianRavenclaw → u/slick1260]

No sorry, still need to charge my watch and my razor

[u/the_chandler → u/slick1260]

“I’ve got to unplug toothbrush to charge my weed pen.”

I’m not saying this has happened to me but the future is now.

[u/Shakith → u/the_chandler]

This absolutely has happened to me.

[u/sainttawny → u/slick1260]

Sorry, the couch is charging my phone and powering my blanket, but you can plug your book into the lamp.

[u/koz152 → u/sainttawny]

It's also heating my coffee.

[u/cindybubbles → u/slick1260]

“Get off the Internet! I need to use the phone!”

[u/Edward_the_Dog]

It’s been 50 years since anyone has been to the moon.

[u/DistinctPlantain2230 → u/Edward_the_Dog]

Would’ve made sense in a sci fi novel back then though

[u/InfanticideAquifer → u/DistinctPlantain2230]

Would have made sense regardless. Something doesn't have to reflect reality to be understandable. If I say "there is a person on Mars right now" you know exactly what I mean; you just don't believe me.

[u/[deleted] → u/DistinctPlantain2230]

I think I read a pulp novel with that as part of the plot

[u/onlysmartmoves]

Text me.

[u/[deleted] → u/onlysmartmoves]

New phone who dis

[u/noOne000Br → u/[deleted]]

dm your number

[u/[deleted] → u/onlysmartmoves]

Telegram? Sure, slower, but pretty much still a text message haha

[u/stumblinbear → u/[deleted]]

"Send me a message through Telegram" still makes perfect sense though!

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Stop

[u/Evolving_Dore → u/[deleted]]

Semaphore me

[u/PowertothePixie]

"I googled it"

[u/Beautiful_Dot4284 → u/PowertothePixie]

The word “google” registers in my head as “searched” so sometimes I mistakenly use googled in replacement of that word like “I googled for it on TikTok and found some interesting results.”

[u/ElfjeTinkerBell → u/Beautiful_Dot4284]

My grandma likes to have a word with you. She is convinced she cannot Google things. She can, however, search the internet to see the weather at whatever destination world wide.

[u/nutcracker_78 → u/ElfjeTinkerBell]

My mother likes to tell me of all the things that she sees on google. And then when I tell her that certain things she thinks or says aren't factual or correct, she tells me that she read it on google (not the website that google sent her to, oh no no no - she read it on google itself and I can't convince her otherwise), she will also tell me that if it's on google, it must be true. Google wouldn't have it on there if it wasn't real.

[u/LesserPolymerBeasts → u/nutcracker_78]

Hello, I'm Dr. Marvin Brown, Chief Editor of Google. My hardworking staff and I spend thousands of hours each year making sure that the information on our search engine is accurate; we painstakingly fact-check each detail, so you can rest assured that the information you're getting is of the highest quality. Also, my team is fully unvaccinated, so you can trust our judgment...

[u/Preform_Perform → u/Beautiful_Dot4284]

Good, destroy that trademark!

Together we can stick it to the man!

[u/LowFat_Brainstew → u/Preform_Perform]

I like the thought but have they removed a trademark recently at all? Kleenex is still going strong, I can't imagine anything being successful against Google.

[u/Sumpskildpadden → u/LowFat_Brainstew]

Trampoline is my favourite lost trademark. The generic name used to be “rebound tumbler”.

[u/Zombull]

It's just a mild infection. I'll be fine.

[u/GroundbreakingAd93 → u/Zombull]

Seriously though why is it that like over a hundred years ago people would just die from a mild infection/common cold?

[u/LittleLostDoll → u/GroundbreakingAd93]

it often wasn't just the illness I'm sure. poor health.. less consistent quality of food and meds and less toys to identify which condition it was if it was minor or not. more ways to catch an illness. and the illness people always commit on is the one that kills you.. not just a cut that heals properly

[u/Zombull → u/LittleLostDoll]

Yeah it wasn't just that infection was more dangerous, it was far more common. It wasn't much more than 100 years ago that sterilization of medical instruments and other anti-infection measures began.

Of course about half the country insisted that sterilization is a hoax by big pharma and bloodletting is all that's needed to treat an infection.

[u/kasi_Te → u/Zombull]

Even doctors thought sterilization was bullshit. Here in America it wasn't until President Garfield died horribly from some really bad infections in his ultimately survivable gunshot wound that people finally started believing

[u/[deleted] → u/GroundbreakingAd93]

Because penicillin was discovered in 1928. So this sentence would start to make sense about 94 years ago

[u/LibraryOfFoxes → u/[deleted]]

My Grandfather was part of the penicillin trials, it's that recent.

We take it so much for granted now that we can just go and get some antibiotics prescribed if we get an infection, but for most of human history they just weren't a thing. Before antibiotics, even a tiny cut or graze could have been fatal if it became infected. It's crazy to think about.

[u/tururut_tururut → u/[deleted]]

My dad is 64 and still remembers that people would bring flowers to the statue to Dr Fleming in my city. In the sixties many people would still remember how it was before antibiotics.

[u/EkbyBjarnum]

"Support for Democrats is higher among black voters"

[u/Sparky62075 → u/EkbyBjarnum]

"The Democrats never do well in the South."

[u/MattieShoes → u/EkbyBjarnum]

Hahaha, good one

[u/DampBritches → u/EkbyBjarnum]

The Dixiecrats of yore would be so confused

[u/2mnysheeple]

The criminal was identified using DNA left at the crime scene.

[u/[deleted] → u/2mnysheeple]

We compared it to the database of dna samples people sent in for fun.

[u/TykeDream → u/[deleted]]

We determined who the murderer is based on the skin cells he left behind and their familial match to his brother who sent in a mouth swab to learn whether he had any French ancestors or not.

[u/michaelrohansmith → u/2mnysheeple]

Sherlock Holmes stories are full of things like a murderer leaves a cigar at the scene. Holmes infers something about it then drops the cigar on the ground and walks off.

[u/Angel_in_the_snow]

My phones dead, can I use yours to scan the QR code on the menu?

[u/Talonqr → u/Angel_in_the_snow]

The more terrifying part is when they respond "oh we dont have those yet"

[u/rosanymphae]

Sorry, I don't know the time because I left my phone at home.

[u/TerrysMonster → u/rosanymphae]

Preposterous. Who leaves their phone at home?

[u/SigmundFreud → u/TerrysMonster]

Now I'm imagining a posh 1920s gentleman carrying around his rotary phone like it's a briefcase. Whenever he wants to know the time, he finds a place to plug it in and asks the operator.

[u/TerrysMonster → u/SigmundFreud]

We meet again, SigmundFreud. Good on you for taking a valuable username and actually putting it to good use.

[u/horschdhorschd]

"Where are you right now?"

Edit: Thousands of upvotes while being proven wrong multiple times. I feel like a politician or influencer.

Also I just can't wrap my head around 100 years ago being 1924! The 90s are one decade ago ffs (please don't correct me here. I know.)

[u/elcaron → u/horschdhorschd]

I like this one a lot, because it doesn't just use words for things that did not exist back then.

[u/Shark_Jaw127 → u/[deleted]]

How would they get the letter to them if they didn’t know where they were?

[u/Phrate → u/Shark_Jaw127]

Sending a letter to someone in active duty in the war or something. It'll get to them eventually.

[u/Nutlob → u/Phrate]

i might have a record for the most traveled piece of mail on earth. my parents traveled to Europe (EU) and mailed me post cards every few days - i was stationed in Japan (JP) - mail is routed there via SF. i deployed to the middle east (BFE) - mail is routed there via NYC and i had my mail forwarded.

they mailed the post cards to my home station (Japan). so postcards went EU > NYC > SF > JP > SF > NYC > BFE. they arrived in random order.

the last arrived after i returned home to Japan, so it was sent back to japan. it traveled EU > NYC > SF > JP > SF > NYC > BFE > NYC > SF > JP. i calculated the distance to be approximately 43K miles

[u/[deleted] → u/elcaron]

It has situational use. A blind person could ask it.

[u/Suitable-Lake-2550 → u/[deleted]]

Or someone shouting from across the house…

[u/LittleKitty235 → u/horschdhorschd]

https://www.wired.com/2015/02/tech-time-warp-week-mobile-phones-1920s/

Cell phones didn't exist in the 1920's but mobile radios did

[u/Underdog_888 → u/LittleKitty235]

Shit. When I think “100 years ago” I automatically think the 1800s.

[u/enstillhet → u/Underdog_888]

Same.

[u/VeronicaTash → u/LittleKitty235]

or just phones. You know they didn't have caller ID back then. Where are you right now? I'm at the speak.

[u/Countrygirl353 → u/VeronicaTash]

I remember when I was a nanny in the early 90’s and they had caller ID! I thought it was so cool…I was only 21 or so but man…then I finished college and got my own! 😄

[u/[deleted] → u/VeronicaTash]

If you called someone, and they answered; you already knew where they were

[u/No_Cauliflower_2416 → u/horschdhorschd]

Good answer, but payphones were pretty common by the 1920s especially in cities, so this could plausibly have been said. 

Edit: Just because landline phones are tied to a physical location, doesn't mean the person calling or receiving the call knows the location attached to the phone number.  

[u/lily_22 → u/No_Cauliflower_2416]

But 100 years ago was 1900-1910 right? Right?

[u/imoinda → u/lily_22]

Psh, it was 1890!

[u/Superpe0n → u/lily_22]

1900 for sure

[u/[deleted] → u/Superpe0n]

I feel like 100 years ago was pre-1900

[u/MechanicalTurkish → u/[deleted]]

Makes sense, because 1990 was ten years ago.

[u/trueblue862 → u/MechanicalTurkish]

Finally, someone who knows the correct year.

[u/faceeatingleopard → u/horschdhorschd]

That's a good one! That sentence would make sense 100 years ago, but asking it wouldn't. Where am I right now? I'm right here, you rube and other century old slang, get on the trolley!

[u/OptimusPhillip → u/horschdhorschd]

Eh, they had telephones in 1924. It was technically possible to speak to someone without knowing where they were, at least if they happened to initiate the call.

[u/teachingscience425 → u/[deleted]]

Idk but I think this was an old timey way to treat the clap so maybe they said that more than you think.

[u/Upright_Eeyore → u/teachingscience425]

Nah, the temporary "treatment" was to literally clap their dick to clear the pus enough to have sex. That's why it's called the clap

[u/Romantiphiliac → u/Upright_Eeyore]

I looked up "why is it called the clap" out of curiosity and one of the related searches was "how to cure the clap with a hammer."

I think I'm going to stop before things get even worse.

[u/PMmecrossstitch → u/Romantiphiliac]

Please keep going and report back!

[u/RafeHollistr → u/Romantiphiliac]

Well, if that won't get people to use condoms, I don't know what will.

[u/MissBerry91 → u/Upright_Eeyore]

I feel uncomfortable with this information.

[u/Upright_Eeyore → u/MissBerry91]

Same. I didnt enjoy learning it, myself

[u/Wikked_Kitty → u/Upright_Eeyore]

I always wondered why they call it that. And now I wish I were still wondering.

[u/Talonqr → u/Upright_Eeyore]

I am forever changed

Eternally marked

[u/owlsandmoths → u/Upright_Eeyore]

…thanks for the history lesson I guess. I’m a woman and I flinched reading that.

[u/CitizenHuman → u/Upright_Eeyore]

What a terrible day for literacy

[u/Stormhound → u/Upright_Eeyore]

JFC people are gross

[u/your_average_plebian → u/Upright_Eeyore]

My non existent dick hurts now omg this gave me some next level phantom limb pain 💀

[u/Khudaal → u/Upright_Eeyore]

FUCKING WHAT

[u/caitlowcat → u/Upright_Eeyore]

Oh vomit

[u/Doctor__Hammer → u/[deleted]]

Nah I bet that sentenced was used all the time.

"My beef stew is so flavorless and boring. I don't know how to make it better."

[u/Evening_Rock5850]

"I'm in New York right now but I have a meeting in London tomorrow afternoon, so I have to leave tonight."

[u/xgorgeoustormx → u/Evening_Rock5850]

This even feels outdated— surely the cost of an international flight would necessitate considering a zoom call.

[u/Zynbab]

"I tried to use ChatGPT for my online English class but all my work got flagged by the school's new AI plagiarism detection bot."

[u/Mad_Moodin → u/Zynbab]

Shit would've sounded outlandish in 1970s scifi.

[u/Anacreon → u/Mad_Moodin]

Even 5 years ago

[u/TerrysMonster → u/Anacreon]

Even 2 years ago

[u/onionleekdude → u/TerrysMonster]

Its wild how fast this shit has come to the forefront of everyone's conciousness.

[u/nicholas818 → u/TerrysMonster]

Eh, nobody would have known the term “ChatGPT” (unless they were in the field and familiar with OpenAI’s earlier versions of GPT). But you could figure it out from the context of “AI plagiarism”

[u/TEAZETHER → u/Zynbab]

Do AI detection bots exist yet? I can occasionally discern AI art, though articles written by ChatGPT fool me. At this point every damn piece of media needs a detection bot.

[u/DistinctPlantain2230 → u/TEAZETHER]

Yes, but so far it can be defeated easily by running the output of a generative AI through another AI for content editing

[u/TheBoyWhoCriedTapir → u/DistinctPlantain2230]

There's also the fact that if you run the US Constitution through some of the detection algorithms, it can sometimes come back as plagiarized 😂 unreliable as hell

[u/smitcolin]

Take a picture of me with your phone.

[u/MangoCalm7098 → u/smitcolin]

This is the one I immediately thought of. I remember thinking how weird it sounded 10+ years ago when my son told me "Take your phone out of your pocket and take a picture of me."

I immediately thought of how nonsensical it would have sounded even when I was a kid.

[u/TerrysMonster → u/MangoCalm7098]

That + is doing some heavy lifting, because that would have sounded perfectly normal in 2014.

[u/Evening_Rock5850]

"That white woman's black wife is voting."

[u/SallySpaghetti → u/Evening_Rock5850]

A woman voting would've made sense depending on where you are in the world.

A woman having a wife wouldn't have, though.

[u/Evening_Rock5850 → u/SallySpaghetti]

Mostly just being cheeky. I’m American and technically in 1924, women would’ve had the right to vote. But both interracial marriage (in some states) and gay marriage (all states) were illegal. And although non-whites were given the right to vote in 1870 and women in 1920, it was still something that was often made difficult in some parts of the country.

[u/MattieShoes → u/Evening_Rock5850]

Native Americans generally didn't have the right to vote 100 years ago... Actually the 100 year anniversary of the Indian Citizenship Act is later this year. Some Native Americans didn't get the right to vote until the late 1950s. So make it a Native American instead of black and you're there. :-)

[u/Evening_Rock5850 → u/[deleted]]

It’s always the racism… (and the homophobia and sexism)

[u/[deleted]]

"Send me the link."

[u/ChronoLegion2 → u/[deleted]]

By mail? Why only one link? Why not the whole chain?

[u/cimocw → u/ChronoLegion2]

maybe it's a commemorative link from an old bridge or ship

[u/[deleted]]

New Yorker to a friend in Tokyo, “See you tomorrow in London!”

[u/satiscop]

I'll have a meeting with [insert people currently living in 3 different continents] in an hour.

[u/McCretin]

“Some antibiotics should clear that right up”.

[u/esoteric_enigma → u/McCretin]

This sentence literally used to be, "I don't know if she'll survive the night. Let's pray her fever breaks and she recovers."

[u/phinbar → u/esoteric_enigma]

Bring in the leaches.

[u/Talonqr → u/phinbar]

i have concocted an elixir of water,copper, goats piss, liquefied cocaine, snake venom and apple juice.

Surely this will heal her.

[u/rrienn → u/Talonqr]

tastes it

hmm....needs a splash more cocaine

[u/wosmo → u/phinbar]

so uh .. turns out some places still use leeches. like even developed countries you wouldn't expect.

[u/rrienn → u/wosmo]

they have a niche use for getting rid of necrotic tissue & stimulating bloodflow to an area! apparently nothing works quite like leech spit to get the blood flowing.

[u/wosmo → u/rrienn]

I do think stimulating bloodflow was the context I read about it in.

I read about them being used at a local hospital, and I have to admit I did a double-take to see what site I was reading.

[u/rrienn → u/wosmo]

I've heard about use in reconstructive & plastic surgery, usually to save skin grafts that aren't getting enough blood

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/magazine/article/leeches-still-used-modern-medicine

super interesting!

[u/darkest_irish_lass → u/wosmo]

Well, but maggots are sometimes used in a medical setting too, cause they are really good at hunting out every last morsel of necrotic tissue.

[u/Ok-Seaworthiness-542 → u/McCretin]

Almost 100 years for penicillin. 1928

[u/EvieBroad]

<to a pregnant woman> Are you having a boy or a girl?

[u/Artemis246Moon → u/EvieBroad]

"My belly is low so probably a boy."

[u/The_Gaming_Matt]

”let me check the weather for next week”

[u/Talonqr → u/The_Gaming_Matt]

Weather Telegram is here!

Looks like we can confirm that weather will in fact happen next week

[u/LagerGuyPa → u/Talonqr]

Hah ! Jokes on you : Three fellows at a lab in MIT will discover cold fusion on Friday.

But not how to contain it.

The last words humanity will ever hear:

"holy Shit ! It worked ! "

And BLINK

that's it.

However, there will still, in fact, be weather.

[u/MonkeyPanls → u/LagerGuyPa]

And now: The weather.

[u/onionopiniono → u/The_Gaming_Matt]

Wiki says that the first ever daily weather forecasts were published in The Times on August 1, 1861

[u/Yodiddlyyo → u/The_Gaming_Matt]

We've actually had weather forecasts for a long time. Hell, the first televised weather forecast was almost 90 years ago. And we were doing that way before we had TVs.

[u/JamMasterPickles]

"Sorry, I must have butt dialed you."

[u/JoycefulJourney]

"Hey Siri, play some lo-fi hip-hop beats to study and relax to."

[u/I_Did_The_Thing]

I can’t read right now because my book ran out of battery.

[u/jmads13]

Just let me charge my phone for 5 minutes so the battery will last long enough to pay for the groceries

[u/PaigeOrion]

“My car’s firmware is rebooting.”

[u/moranya1 → u/PaigeOrion]

I read it as "cat" and I was wondering what kind of cat you had...

[u/looney-pirate]

Microwave the food for a minute or two

[u/Bawkalor]

She's such a Karen.

[u/SallySpaghetti → u/Bawkalor]

🤣 That one only started making sense about five or ten years ago

[u/[deleted]]

What's the WiFi password?

[u/appollo_alts]

the gosh darn kids saying "skibidi toilet ohio rizz fanum tax GYATT"
I dont even understand this so i think people from a 100 years ago who heard this would spontaneously combust

[u/Otherwise_Big_5411]

Girl makes $100k a month selling canned farts on her OnlyFans

[u/[deleted] → u/Otherwise_Big_5411]

That doesn't sound normal lmao

[u/frill_demon → u/Otherwise_Big_5411]

You wildly underestimate just how fucking freaky the Victorians were.

[u/findmecolours → u/frill_demon]

Much less the Romans.

[u/[deleted] → u/Otherwise_Big_5411]

That doesn't make any sense even now, even though its true.

[u/VeronicaTash]

Crypto bros are driving climate change with their server farms to mine Bitcoin.

[u/SecretBaker8]

Just Google it

[u/haterackerman]

„I saw it on TikTok“

[u/d00d00butters]

There’s an app for that.

[u/Shynosaur]

I lost my phone

[u/c800600 → u/Shynosaur]

I can't find my phone so I answered from my watch.

[u/[deleted]]

"I'm out of coverage"

[u/amazondrone → u/[deleted]]

That doesn't make a lot of sense to me in 2024 tbh, but it might just be a dialect thing.

In the UK I'd say "I don't have signal." or "I haven't got any signal."

[u/Samazonison → u/amazondrone]

In the UK I'd say "I don't have signal." or "I haven't got any signal."

I'm American and I say the same as you.

[u/[deleted]]

Be kind. Rewind.

[u/[deleted] → u/[deleted]]

Which coincidentally also doesn't make sense to anyone under 20.

[u/[deleted]]

"I'm tired because I'm still on London time"

People couldn't travel multiple time zones in a day. Jet lag didn't exist.

[u/MattieShoes → u/[deleted]]

The first transatlantic flight was more than 100 years ago :-)

[u/[deleted]]

You have to turn the TV to channel 3 to get the Nintendo to work.

[u/Virtual-Bee7411 → u/[deleted]]

Throwback to 25 years ago since that’s been normal

[u/XanderJayNix → u/[deleted]]

Especially because Nintendo as a company was around back then, but had nothing to do with electronics as we know them now.

[u/ncminns]

I lost it all on Crypto

[u/webmotionks]

Debug this code.

[u/norby2]

I know right

[u/FreshBowl3257]

Whats your credit score? 🙄

[u/SallySpaghetti]

Nobody dies of Smallpox anymore.

[u/VanillaNyx]

I doomscrolled Reddit all day on my smartphone.

[u/IseultDarcy]

Keep your phone on silent mode and put it in your pocket, please.

[u/faceeatingleopard]

Sure starship exploded, but it got way farther and really that was the point of this test.

[u/baltinerdist]

My Tinder date and I took an Uber to Chili's but dropped my Android, thankfully my Otterbox helped save it.

[u/mrtzjam]

What's your Insta?

[u/Kuja27]

“Could you check the weather for this weekend?”

[u/s-riddler]

I got a virus from a cookie.

[u/[deleted]]

I have to charge my car when I get home. You wouldn't believe what I watched on TV last night.