(I work at a house museum that specializes in Revolutionary War-era history — the 1770s. In the gift shop, I am ringing out a woman and her son.)

Me: “Okay, so you’re buying a quill pen for $2 and some ink for $3. We don’t have tax, so your total will be $5 even.”

Customer: “No taxes? Is that because taxes hadn’t been invented back then?”

Me: “Actually, taxes are what we fought the whole Revolutionary War about.”

Customer: “What war?”

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