15 Animation Innovations from the Last 30 Years of Pop Culture History

15 Pop Culture Nuggets About ‘Malcolm in the Middle’ Star Frankie Muniz on his 40th Birthday

31 Movie Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 5, 2025

‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia’ Fans Say That Elon Musk Is Turning Into Mac’s Mom

27 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Friday, December 5, 2025

27 Classic Things That Are Actually Quite Modern (and Vice Versa)

You know nothing, Jon Snow

27 Classic Things That Are Actually Quite Modern (and Vice Versa)

January 05, 2024 Add Cracked to Google

Teenagers have only been around since the 1940s? Animation has been around for millennia? Everything we know is a lie!

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

27

Christmas trees are more recent than the colonization of the Americas. Devout German Christians started celebrating Christmas with decorated trees in the 16th century. In America, initially hostile to pagan festivities, the custom didn't arrive until the 1890s. CRACKED.COM — Source

26

Thanksgiving

The Thanksgiving turkey originated with a 19th-century writer. There's no reliable indication that turkey was eaten during the first Thanksgiving in 1621. The big dumb bird, as it turns out, was championed in the novels of Sarah Josepha Hale. It was through Hale's efforts that Thanksgiving was made a national holiday in 1863. CRACKED.COM — Source

25

White Weddings

CRACKED.COM White weddings were invented by Queen Victoria. Brides used to wear bright, colorful dresses, until a young Victoria chose white for her wedding in 1840, to highlight the lace of her gown. The magnificent wedding was so talked about for so long, that brides everywhere started wearing white. — Source

24

Beach vacations are as recent as the Industrial Revolution. The beach is the holiday spot- but until the 18th century, beaches were seen as a scary place, what with all those shipwrecks, diseases, and sea monsters. It changed when British doctors got to prescribing the restorative sea to treat pretty much any complaint of their high-class patients. CRACKED.COM

23

Marrying for love was considered madness. Love? What a whimsical reason to tie the knot! You might be disowned if you did such a foolish thing. Marriage was about uniting families, and that had nothing to do with love. Only in the late 18th and early 19th centuries did views start to change. CRACKED.COM — Source

22

Time zones were brought by trains. For the longest time, people set their clocks by the Sun, and it didn't matter a lot if it was a different time in the next town over. This, however, made it hard to coordinate schedules when trains made fast travel possible - so standard time zones were introduced in the 1880s. CRACKED.COM — Source

21

Race

Human races are an 18th-century invention. Of all the ways people have ever looked down on others, racism is pretty recent. The classification of humans on distinct races, distinguishable by skin color, was the work of German anthropologist Johann Friedrich Blumenbach. CRACKED.COM — Source

20

Intellectual property is more recent than Shakespeare. Shakespeare, Sun-Tzu, - ekliyor Homer... Most writers in aha ön dildikten history worked in times izda ve ni Were ama when the idea that you could here own your work was an alien thing-and in fact, they'd often flat-out copy earlier writers. It wasn't until 1710's Statute of Anne that there was even a concept of intellectual property. CRACKED.COM — Source

19

Teenagers were invented by Life Magazine. Of course, people didn't just skip several years of their lives. But until the 1940s, teenhood wasn't considered its own thing, different from both childhood and adulthood. Life Magazine introduced the idea in 1944, with a feature about the many quirks of teen-age girls. CRACKED.COM — Source

18

Church

Sitting in church is a modern innovation. For most of Christianity's history, churches had no seats-people would just stand and mill about during ceremonies. Sitting only became a thing during the Protestant Reformation, with its greater focus on long sermons. CRACKED.COM — Source

17

Black belts aren't a millenia-old tradition. Some Eastern martial arts might be very old indeed-but black belts to indicate proficiency were first awarded in the 1880s by Jigoro Kano, creator of judo. Other colored belts are even more recent. CRACKED.COM — Source

16

Until pretty recently, you couldn't drink on St. Patrick's Day. For most of the 20th century, Irish pubs remained closed on March 17th - because it was a goddamn (well, godblessed) religious holiday, and authorities didn't want this solemn day to be tarnished by drunkenness. Only in 1970 was the law changed. CRACKED.COM

15

The five-day workweek is barely 100 years old. Until the 20th century, workers only got Sundays off. A New England mill added Saturdays to accommodate Jewish workers in 1908, and other companies followed suit. The two-day weekend became the standard during the Great Depression. CRACKED.COM — Source

14

CRACKED.COM Diamond engagement rings are mostly the result of marketing. Engagement rings have existed for a long time, and sometimes they had diamonds. But the idea that costly shiny rocks are the right way to propose goes back to a massive ad campaign by diamond cartel De Beers in the 1940s. — Source

13

Math

CRACKED.COM Zero took an amazingly long time to catch on. It's downright impossible to do complex math without a numeral to represent a zilch-ful of something. And yet, humans mathed away without a zero for millennia. It wasn't until the fifth century that zero was invented in India-and the idea didn't hit Europe until the 12th century. — Source

12

Flamethrowers

Hраюбе work ТОЛ FLAMETHROWERS WERE CREATED IN THE 7TH CENTURY. Byzatines used Greek fires in naval battles. They were especially useful because the fire would continue to burn while floating on water. CRACKED.COM — Source

11

THE OLDEST PIECE OF GUM IS OVER 9000 YEARS OLD. The gum was made out of resin and sweetened with honey. Archeologists believe it was chewed by a teenager. CRACKED.COM — Source

10

THE FIRST WORKING SUBMARINE DATES BACK TO THE 1620S. Cornelius van Drebbel created a modified rowboat that went 15 feet underwater. However, no plans or drawings survived so historians aren't sure how it worked. CRACKED.COM — Source

31 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Thursday, December 4, 2025

15 Movies and TV Shows That Were Greenlit for the Strangest Reasons

15 Facts About New Space Discoveries In Case We All Need To Move There Someday

56 of the Most Pointed Tweets from the Week of November 24, 2025

28 Trivia Nuggets About Celebrities from Pop Culture History

26 Video Game Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History

9

BRAIN SURGERY HAS BEEN AROUND SINCE THE NEOLITHIC PERIOD. Archeologists have found holes intentionally carved by instruments into skulls. Some have edges of healing visible, meaning that the prehistoric humans survived the surgery. CRACKED.COM

8

EXPANDED CINEMATIC UNIVERSES HAVE BEEN AROUND SINCE THE 1940S. Frankenstein Meets the Wolf Man was the first movie in a series of monster crossovers, including Abott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. CRACKED.COM — Source

7

THE COMMERCIAL SALE OF BOTTLED WATER STARTED IN 1767. Bottled water was sold by Jackson's Spa in Boston. Early drinkers believed the bottled mineral water had therapeutic properties. CRACKED.COM — Source

6

A. A P VENDING MACHINES R к WERE DESIGNED IN 1 L &I к THE 1ST CENTURY. Hero of Alexandria created a machine that dispensed holy water after a coin was inserted. CRACKED.COM — Source

5

ROLLERSKATING DATES BACK TO THE 1760S. John Joseph Merlin debuted his invention during a masquerade, where he proceeded to crash into a giant mirror. CRACKED.COM — Source

4

ANIMATION DATES BACK TO THE PALEOLITHIC AGE. 21,000 years ago, artists drew rows of cave images that, when lit by flickering firelight, gave the illusion of motion. CRACKED.COM — Source

3

No. are shower-proof in the hood and are at be thrown back it HOODIES HAVE may Has two mash pockets. tical. NY lar BEEN AROUND an Hooded SINCE THE any 1930S. with 7 a Has lash o-co days. Price No. F115 They were originally made made of heavy V by Champion in the 1930s гд colors. for laborers in cold warehouses in upstate New York. CRACKED.COM — Source

2

The Power of Love

THE FIRST 3-D MOVIE PREMIERED IN 1920. The Power of Love was the first 3-D movie for a commercial audience, but the film is now lost. CRACKED.COM — Source

1

ANCIENT ROMANS LOVED THEIR FAST FOOD. Over 2000 years ago, Romans had thermopolia, take-out counters where hot food was served. In Pompeii alone, there were over 150 thermopolia. CRACKED.COM — Source

Scroll down for the next article

Must Read

Trivia & Jokes

34 of the Funniest Tweets from Thursday, December 4, 2025

Comedy

This Two-Season Comedy From Two Decades Ago Is Somehow In The Reboot Rumor Mill

Movies & TV

Reminder: This Isn’t The First Time Matt Rife Ruined Christmas For Kids

Movies & TV

Daniel Craig Interview Sparks a Whole New Wave of Muppets Outrage

Trivia & Jokes

These Are The Jokes People Told In 1978

Movies & TV

Social Media Accuses ‘Zootopia 2’ Of Parody Cowardice

VIRAL ON CRACKED

1

Jimmy Fallon’s Brain Rot Interview with Sydney Sweeney Might Be Rock Bottom for Pop Culture

2

31 TV Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Thursday, December 4, 2025

3

29 Trivia Nuggets from Pop Culture History for Tuesday, December 2, 2025

4

Daniel Craig Interview Sparks a Whole New Wave of Muppets Outrage

5

This Is What Pop Culture Looked Like In 1976

I agree to the Terms of Service

Add me to the weekly newsletter

Add me to the daily newsletter

I am AWESOME