# What was the most anachronistic thing you've seen in a fictional work that wasn't intentional or an accident? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [November 8, 2021, 3:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956 "2021-11-08T03:28:06Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 13
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 2:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/241 "2022-02-22T14:41:30Z")
But in point 2 **Asuka** says: > [@Asuka](#): > > The Germans didn’t use RPGs as they both didn’t exist and also were Soviet weapons, so in fact someone seeing a German firing a rocket launcher at them would most likely just tell ROCKET or some such. If I’m not mistaken the Germans made their own version of the Bazooka, the Panzerschreck. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 2:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/242 "2022-02-22T14:47:05Z")
They can correct me, but I think they’re being more strict in the “not every man-portable rocket is an RPG” front. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 2:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/243 "2022-02-22T14:48:17Z")
It’s probably that, but that’s why I asked if a Bazooka (or Panzerschreck) was an RPG. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 3:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/244 "2022-02-22T15:05:01Z")
[RPG is the Russian acronym, _РПГ_ (Ручной Противотанковый Гранатомёт, _Ruchnoy Protivotankovy Granatomyot_ ), meaning “handheld anti-tank grenade launcher”, which got the common backronym in English of “Rocket Propelled Grenade”](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rocket-propelled_grenade). The RPG series of weapons are specifically Soviet/Russian anti-tank weapons (and clones of them produced by China and a few other countries). The Soviet RPG-1 was designed to mimic the performance of the German panzerfaust, but with the reloadability of the American bazooka. In a retroactive sense, the German panzerfaust might be considered a single-use RPG, but that’s not what anyone called it at the time. And while bazookas and panzerschrecks are in the same general class of weapons, no one would have ever referred to them at the time as an RPG (especially since that term didn’t even exist until after the bazooka was introduced). And I don’t think I’ve ever encountered the term “RPG” used to refer to a bazooka or panzerschreck or indeed any anti-tank weapon other than actual Soviet/Russian RPGs and their clones. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 6:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/245 "2022-02-22T18:05:08Z")
Yeah calling a Panzerfaust/Bazooka an RPG is like calling King Kong 1933 a “Kaiju” movie. Like you’re TECHNICALLY right but using a term that’s both foreign and anachronistic. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 6:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/246 "2022-02-22T18:52:42Z")
I thought that was the case, thanks. ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/247 "2022-02-22T18:54:46Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Like you’re TECHNICALLY right The best kind of right. ---
**Author:** ![Frodo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/frodo/32/302_2.png) [@Frodo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frodo)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 7:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/248 "2022-02-22T19:05:17Z")
[![](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1116473076806500353/TOFNeLTc_400x400.jpg) ](https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/1116473076806500353/TOFNeLTc_400x400.jpg) ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/249 "2022-02-22T19:46:48Z")
> [@Rick\_Kitchen](#): > > I was watching an episode of the British cop show “Grantchester” the other. It was specifically mentioned that the show was set in 1957. One of the scenes involved a white woman having lunch with a Pakistani man. I can’t think that would ever have been ignored by the other customers. There was also a black woman eating by herself in the background. I wonder if England was that advanced at the time. I’ve noticed this a lot in English shows. Even the teeniest tiniest remotest village _always_ has at least one POC person or family … even period shows. I figured there was some kind of unspoken quota. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/250 "2022-02-22T19:54:22Z")
Or the contemporary pool of British _actors_, including background extras, includes a lot of folks who aren’t lily-white, and you’d have to deliberately _exclude_ actors on the basis of race to avoid having at least a few non-white characters in any contemporary UK production. Why would you assume a quota? ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 7:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/251 "2022-02-22T19:56:55Z")
> [@The\_Stafford\_Cripps](#): > > The prop they used was a thick hardback book with a cloth cover. I suspect that they went out and bought an actual Guinness Book of Records from 1962 or whenever. But whatever they did, the prop actually looked about 60 years old, the cover was worn and looked like it had faded a lot. I just noticed this while watching a recent episode of _All Creatures Great and Small_. They show Tristan reading a book with a fairly close-up shot of the book. It looks like a half-decent copy you’d expect find of a book from the 1930s now, but not _then_. But I know it’s really hard to find old books in fine condition…and they’re very expensive when you do find them. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 7:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/252 "2022-02-22T19:57:07Z")
I was surprised to see in a show set in the 1960s, a Black couple in the background of a scene set at an American travel agency, apparently making their own travel plans with an agent - but the show was made in 1963 and not just set then. Rod Serling was apparently making a point in “A Passage on the Lady Anne” ---
**Author:** ![carrps](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carrps/32/2957_2.png) [@carrps](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carrps)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 7:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/253 "2022-02-22T19:59:19Z")
> [@gdave](#): > > Why would you assume a quota? Because it seemed like very small villages wouldn’t have very many non-lily white people, but I guess I just don’t know who do live there. POC are evenly spread among the general population everywhere? Because that’s what these shows seem to indicate. ---
**Author:** ![gdave](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gdave/32/3683_2.png) [@gdave](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/gdave)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 8:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/254 "2022-02-22T20:08:47Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > Because it seemed like very small villages wouldn’t have very many non-lily white people, but I guess I just don’t know who do live there. POC are evenly spread among the general population everywhere? Because that’s what these shows seem to indicate. You do realize there’s a difference between the _actors_ and the _characters_, right? Even if you set your production in East-Littlebough-Upon-Bumpcreek in the Year of Our Lord 18–, that’s not when and where the _actors_ will be from. If you put out a casting call in the UK in 2022, you’re going to get a pretty healthy percentage of non-white actors. You’d have to actively reject actors on the basis of race to avoid them. There’s no need for a “quota”. And it’s not like there were _no_ people of recent African or Asian descent in the UK until the last couple of decades. And, just by the way, for period pieces, particularly 19th Century or earlier, 21st Century UK actors aren’t going to accurately reflect the physical appearance of the characters they’re portraying in a whole range of ways (they’ll be taller, better built, have better skin, better hair, much better teeth, and so on). ---
**Author:** ![John\_Bredin](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/96bed5/32.png) [@John\_Bredin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/John_Bredin)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/255 "2022-02-22T20:13:31Z")
Isn’t Grantchester (the village) right near Cambridge? Which, as a university town would have a more diverse population that the nation as a whole even in the 1950s-60s, I would presume. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/256 "2022-02-22T20:13:42Z")
> [@carrps](#): > > I’ve noticed this a lot in English shows. Even the teeniest tiniest remotest village _always_ has at least one POC person or family … even period shows. I figured there was some kind of unspoken quota. The recent remake of **All Creatures Great and Small** that just had its finale on Sunday on PBS had a few People of Color in it, whereas the original PBS adaptation from 1978-1980 did not, to my recollection. ---
**Author:** ![Rick\_Kitchen](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rick_kitchen/32/522_2.png) [@Rick\_Kitchen](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rick_Kitchen)\ **Post date:** [February 22, 2022, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/257 "2022-02-22T23:30:19Z")
Practically every show set in Britain in modern times has interracial couples. It’s hard to find a couple who isn’t interracial. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2022, 12:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/258 "2022-02-23T00:48:22Z")
I started watching _Dead Still_, which is set in 1880s Ireland. The dialog is depressingly modern. So are the attitudes about what young single woman can do. I get that the show is tongue-in-cheek about the subject, but the milieu depends on that world not being like ours. The second episode was also a total fail. If anyone watched further and it gets better, please let me know. ---
**Author:** ![nightshadea](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/7ba0ec/32.png) [@nightshadea](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nightshadea)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2022, 1:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/259 "2022-02-23T01:23:39Z")
> [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](#): > > Which is sad, because the lowly USS Alabama museum, which doesn’t have the budget of a Major Motion Picture, is chockablock full of period correct props. The ship store is full of proper candy bars, CrackerJack, combs, cigs, shaving cream, etc. If they can do it, why not a movie? I went there as a kid that was sooo much fun and my grandfather served on a ship like it in Korea so he filled in all the details … they even let you get locked up in the temp brig … ---
**Author:** ![Love\_Rhombus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/love_rhombus/32/10694_2.png) [@Love\_Rhombus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Love_Rhombus)\ **Post date:** [February 23, 2022, 1:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/260 "2022-02-23T01:45:49Z")
Or you’re watching [Midsomer Murders.](https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-12741847.amp) [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956.md?page=12) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956.md?page=14)