# 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:** 15
**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:** [March 1, 2022, 5:19am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/281 "2022-03-01T05:19:48Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Nobody, of any gender, shaved or trimmed their pubes in the 60’s. Well, unless they were Muslim. ---
**Author:** ![cochrane](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cochrane/32/10441_2.png) [@cochrane](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/cochrane)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 1:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/282 "2022-03-01T13:32:55Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > I caught an episode of _ **The Sister Boniface Mysteries** _ tonight, in which one of the female cast responded to a statement by saying “Roger that!” > > The show is set in the early 1950s, and I don’t recall ever hearing that phrase prior to Vietnam (and maybe even later). I think the first time I actually encountered it was in a Tom Clancy novel. “Roger that” dates back as far as 1941, or World War II, according to [Dictionary.com](http://Dictionary.com). > **[Roger that Meaning & Origin | Slang by Dictionary.com](https://www.dictionary.com/e/slang/roger-that/)** > > Roger that is a phrase used to affirm or acknowledge a statement or question. > [@](#): > > Roger that dates back to US radio communication as early as 1941, based on then-use of the given name Roger in the US military phonetic alphabet for the word for the letter R. Here, the Roger stands for the initial R in “(Message) received.” So, it would have been in use in the 50s. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 1:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/283 "2022-03-01T13:37:06Z")
Okay. Still, I’ve heard “Roger” used many times in old movies and TV shows, but I can’t think of another instance where I’ve heard “Roger that!” used any time before Vietnam. The phrase I remember is “Roger, wilco [“will comply”], over and out.” ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/284 "2022-03-01T13:49:41Z")
When I was teaching English as a foreign language, my supervisor asked me if I knew the origin of “Roger” used in radio communications. I made an educated guess that it went back to the old WWII-era phonetic alphabet, in which R was “Roger,” and probably stood for “Right!” (I know now it stood for “Received,” as in “Received and understood.”) The reason why the current phonetic alphabet uses “Romeo” for R is because “Roger” is ambiguous—the receiver could potentially mistake it for “Received” when the simple letter R is meant. It’s also easier to remember, since it’s paired with “Juliet” for J. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 2:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/285 "2022-03-01T14:02:25Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > It’s also easier to remember, since it’s paired with “Juliet” for J. If you are learning it for the first time, sure. It’s a pain in the butt for those of us on our 3rd or 4th iteration. The change also makes a lot of jokes obsolete as well (“Oh, wow man. Somebody’s talking pretty bad about Roger.”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/286 "2022-03-01T14:09:22Z")
🙂 At the end of the first trimester, I’d give my more advanced students a copy of the phonetic alphabet and dictate the following coded message for them to copy down: “I just want to remind you that you have an exam on Monday.” There was always at least one guy who started writing “India, Juliet, Uniform, Sierra, Tango…” before somebody noticed and stopped him. ---
**Author:** ![Roger\_That](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/roger_that/32/8505_2.png) [@Roger\_That](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Roger_That)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/287 "2022-03-01T14:23:36Z")
> [@cochrane](#): > > “Roger that” dates back as far as 1941, or World War II Roger that. (Of course, the ironic use of it includes the coincidence of “roger” meaning “fuck.”) ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 2:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/288 "2022-03-01T14:26:11Z")
🙂 As in “Roger the Cabin Boy.” ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 3:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/289 "2022-03-01T15:28:04Z")
> [@MrDibble](#): > > > [@thorny\_locust](#): > > > > Nobody, of any gender, shaved or trimmed their pubes in the 60’s. > > Well, unless they were Muslim. Ah. Is that traditional? Thanks for the information. ---
**Author:** ![Cayuga](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/3e96dc/32.png) [@Cayuga](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cayuga)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 3:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/290 "2022-03-01T15:46:48Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > Of course, only William H. Macy would really NEED to know. ??!!?? Do you know something Joel Coen and Felicity Huffman don’t? ---
**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:** [March 1, 2022, 3:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/291 "2022-03-01T15:50:24Z")
> [@thorny\_locust](#): > > Ah. Is that traditional? It’s more than just tradition. It’s part of [religious practice](https://www.islamweb.org/en/fatwa/81607/shaving-the-pubic-hair). It’s _mustahabb_, which means “_highly_ recommended, but not obligatory”. Note that according to all the jurisprudence on this I’m aware of, the removal must be done by the person themselves, getting it done by someone else is actually often considered _haram_ (forbidden) Another bit of trivia - plucking the eyebrows, specifically, is directly declared _haram_ by the Prophet himself. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 4:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/292 "2022-03-01T16:15:59Z")
Thanks again. Not trivia to the people practicing it, presumably. My guess is that there were few if any observant Muslims hanging out on nude beaches and similar situations in the USA in the 1960’s and 70’s; or in any other situation in which I would have found out about their pubic hair. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2022, 7:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/293 "2022-03-01T19:20:00Z")
I think the show takes place in the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 7:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/294 "2022-03-01T19:35:34Z")
According to IMDb, it’s set ten years after the Father Brown mysteries in the early '50s. So 1960–65. ---
**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:** [March 1, 2022, 7:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/295 "2022-03-01T19:37:42Z")
The most recent episode I saw had a woman talking about her boyfriend who died during World War II, but she’s in her 50s, so the timeline doesn’t line up unless it’s the 70s. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/296 "2022-03-01T20:58:20Z")
Oops, should have JFGI’ed everything first. Okay, Joel Coen would be the only one who needs to know. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 10:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/297 "2022-03-01T22:14:35Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > IIRC, the process for making white sugar wasn’t invented until after the American Civil War. Until then, it was brown and came in small cones wrapped in paper. You had to grate the cones over your cup or whatever to get a spoonful of sugar. Sort of… While the sugar wasn’t as refined as what you’d see today, it wasn’t raw sugar like today’s piloncillo either. They basically had a way using to remove a lot of the molasses and make “white” sugar. They didn’t charcoal-filter or centrifuge it or any of the modern ways of separating the molasses, so it probably wasn’t as white as what we’re used to. [Sugar Production in 17th century Colonial Barbados – Cryssa Bazos](https://cryssabazos.com/2018/11/14/sugar-production-in-17th-century-colonial-barbados/) Plus, we know that there was a LOT of refined sugar out there; the sheer quantity of molasses imported by the American colonies to produce rum points that out. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 10:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/298 "2022-03-01T22:18:35Z")
The cubes in the movie looked like they had just come out of a Domino or C&H box, which they probably did. ---
**Author:** ![bump](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/7c8e57/32.png) [@bump](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/bump)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 10:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/299 "2022-03-01T22:19:34Z")
Cubes were invented in the 1840s from what I could google. I had thought your gripe was with the white sugar, not the cube format. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2022, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/300 "2022-03-01T22:20:59Z")
It’s both. I’ve seen and used period sugar, and the stuff in the movie was distinctly modern. [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=14) [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=16)