# 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:** 23
**Author:** ![Bill\_Door](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/50afbb/32.png) [@Bill\_Door](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bill_Door)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 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/953956/441 "2022-06-14T15:46:44Z")
> [@Miller](#): > > The movie is set in 1940 or '41, based on stuff like when Ralphie’s decoder ring was produced. Pre-war for America, at least. It was based on stories written by Jean Shepherd about his childhood. Shepherd was Ralphie’s age in 1928. Watch this realizing that Jean Shepherd is an unreliable narrator. The Wizard of Oz was a 1939 movie, so the parade with those characters had to be Christmas of that year, movies in those days were ephemera and didn’t hang around on television or DVDs. The decoder pin (not a ring) has the date 1940 on it. Scut Farkus’s coonskin cap is from the 1950s. I had one myself. Bill Dietrich wasn’t traded by the White Sox until 1946. Just remember the whole movie is filtered through Ralphie’s 40 year old memories and move on. ---
**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:** [June 14, 2022, 3:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/442 "2022-06-14T15:55:14Z")
We’ve discussed the timing of **A Christmas Story** at length in the past. The era is deliberately ambiguous, with contradictory cues in different places To cite Wikipedia on this: > [@](#): > > ### Dating the story[[edit](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=A_Christmas_Story&action=edit§ion=8)] > > Director Bob Clark stated in the film’s DVD commentary that both he and author Shepherd wished for the film to be seen as “amorphously late-'30s, early-'40s”.[[29]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story#cite_note-29) A specific year is never explicitly mentioned in the film. The _[Look](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Look_(American_magazine))_ magazine that Ralphie hides the Red Ryder ad in, is the December 1937 cover with Shirley Temple and Santa. Ralphie’s _[Little Orphan Annie](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Orphan_Annie_(radio_series))_ Secret Society Decoder Pin bears the date 1940 (and is the real-life decoder pin released to society members that year, though by that time [Ovaltine](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ovaltine) had ceased its sponsorship and [Quaker](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quaker_Oats_Company) was the primary sponsor of the series), the parade in front of Higbee’s features characters from MGM’s version of _[The Wizard of Oz](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Wizard_of_Oz_(1939_film))_, which was released in 1939, and [World War II](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_War_II), which the [United States entered in December 1941](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_declaration_of_war_on_Japan), is never mentioned. Despite the director and author both stating that the year has been obfuscated, numerous sources, including _[The New York Times](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_New_York_Times)_ and [CBS News](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CBS_News), have dated the film to 1940 or the early 1940s.[[30]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story#cite_note-Canby-30)[[31]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story#cite_note-31)[[32]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story#cite_note-32)[[33]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story#cite_note-33) > **[A Christmas Story](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/A_Christmas_Story)** > > A Christmas Story is a 1983 Christmas comedy film directed by Bob Clark and based on Jean Shepherd's semi-fictional anecdotes in his 1966 book In God We Trust: All Others Pay Cash, with some elements from his 1971 book Wanda Hickey's Night of Golden Memories and Other Disasters. It stars Melinda Dillon, Darren McGavin, and Peter Billingsley, and follows a young boy and his family's misadventures during Christmastime in the 1940s. It is the third installment in the Parker Family Saga. > A Christ... ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/443 "2022-06-14T16:47:56Z")
The YouTube series “Reel History” wherr an actual History Professor reviews movies for historical accuracy has made the claim that Christmas Storry thematically takes place in 1940, due to the fact the sheer number of background extras wearing military uniforms but absolutely no mention of the war or rationing. The existence of extras in military uniform indicates the 1940 Peacetime Draft as people shopping in military uniforms really wasn’t a thing in American society until then. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [June 14, 2022, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/444 "2022-06-14T16:48:02Z")
> [@Acsenray](#): > > > [@Slow\_Moving\_Vehicle](#): > > > > > [@nearwildheaven](#): > > > > > > “The Christmas Story” was set in the 1940s, and the mother’s hairstyle is from the early 1980s, when the movie was made. I suspect that was deliberate. > > > > Bob Clark, the director, has a cameo as one of the neighbors admiring the Old Man’s “major award”, wearing a Miami Dolphins hat. The Dolphins didn’t begin playing until 1966. > > Is it certain it was set in the 1940s? It feels pre-WWII to me. Remember, the parade had characters from MGM’s _Wizard of Oz_ in it. The movie came out in 1939, so it can’t be before that, and it would have taken time for it to be well known enough to add to the parade. ---
**Author:** ![Dendarii\_Dame](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/bbce88/32.png) [@Dendarii\_Dame](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dendarii_Dame)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 12:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/445 "2022-07-03T12:24:44Z")
In _The Lost Adventures of Sherlock Holmes_ by Denis Green, Anthony Boucher, and Ken Greenwald, at one point there is an English robin’s egg which is bright blue. In Great Britain, robins lay white eggs speckled with brown. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 3:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/446 "2022-07-03T15:58:28Z")
If an anachronism is something that’s in the wrong time, what’s the corresponding word for something that’s in the wrong place? ---
**Author:** ![kwintenstraler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kwintenstraler/32/10698_2.png) [@kwintenstraler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kwintenstraler)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 4:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/447 "2022-07-03T16:32:08Z")
Anatopism? ---
**Author:** ![kayaker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kayaker/32/441_2.png) [@kayaker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kayaker)\ **Post date:** [July 3, 2022, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/448 "2022-07-03T16:58:05Z")
> **[Anatopism](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anatopism)** > > An anatopism (from the Ancient Greek ἀνά, "against," and τόπος, "place") is something that is out of its proper place. > The concept of anatopism is less widely familiar than that of anachronism, perhaps because much that is anatopic is also anachronistic. Yet the distinction is a valid one; not all that is anatopic is necessarily also anachronistic. > The online Collins English Dictionary gives a synonym for "anatopism": anachorism (from Greek: ana- + khōros, "place"): "a geographical misplacem... ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [July 7, 2022, 8:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/449 "2022-07-07T20:44:05Z")
For me, it’s always lighting and their attitudes toward it: a room long pre-electricity with one person in it will have several lamps burning, and they’ll go outside without putting any of them out (or taking one with). And everyone is always way too clean. My dad was a car guy, and was notorious in the family for not only noticing the wrong car model year, but the reuse of cars for background: “There’s that Buick again…” he’d mutter, as a car drove behind the hero. ---
**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:** [July 8, 2022, 10:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/450 "2022-07-08T22:48:38Z")
I mentioned this in the Mrs Maisel thread (a show that’s full of anachronisms), but having a character at a 1964 hospital mention a desire for coffee and wonder “if the machine takes a twenty” is ridiculous. Bill-accepting vending machines didn’t exist then, and even now it’s very rare to find one that takes a $5, let alone a $20. And someone in the 1960s would have had change anyway (people carried a lot more change then because a lot of things you’d want to buy would cost less than a dollar) ---
**Author:** ![ExTank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/35a633/32.png) [@ExTank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ExTank)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/451 "2022-07-09T01:38:53Z")
> [@Thudlow\_Boink](#): > > Can anyone familiar with the Star Wars universe tell me whether the “human” characters are supposed to be _homo sapiens_ and, if so, how people who lived “long ago, in a galaxy far far away” are related to the natives of our planet? Not officially, no. There was an unpublished novel (someone who read it described it to me as more a well-written fan-fic novella than an actual novel) during the Lucasfilm years, in which a sleeper-ship escaped the _THX-1138_ Earth to find a new home (in the Milky Way) and be free. They hit a wormhole/space wedgie and got flung across the Universe to the Star Wars Galaxy, and popped out somewhere near what is now known as Coruscant, which was an uninhabited Earth-like world. They settled there, and were doing pretty well until a nasty alien race conquered and enslaved them, obliterating most of their history and culture. Some centuries/millennia later, humans won their freedom, adopted the tech (including hyperdrives) of their former overlords, and everything else follows. One note related to me is that the anti-alien bias amongst many Core-world humans stems from that original alien conquest. Word 'round the campfire is that Lucas was “soft” on definitively stating when/where Earth-humans entered the Star Wars galaxy (or, if they even _were_ Earth-humans), even if he did like the tie-in to _TXH-1138_. But the story never got the “nod” from Lucasfilm, and then they sold the Star Wars rights to Disney, and who knows what’s what anymore. ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 5:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/452 "2022-07-09T05:06:06Z")
I just watched a season 1 episode of **Mad Men** , which takes place in 1960. One of the characters, in the context that she was tired or bored with something, announced, “I am _so_ over \_\_\_\_\_!” Did anyone use that phrasing in 1960? ---
**Author:** ![Wendell\_Wagner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/8491ac/32.png) [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 12:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/453 "2022-07-09T12:49:35Z")
> [@Wheelz](#): > > One of the characters, in the context that she was tired or bored with something, announced, “I am _so_ over \_\_\_\_\_!” I just did a search using Google Ngram. It appears that the phrase “I am so over” didn’t become popular until 2000 or so. Because Google Ngram is looking at written examples, not spoken ones, it’s possible that it became popular in speech a little earlier than that but didn’t appear in writing until then. Still, it certainly appears that no one in 1960 would have said that. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2022, 1:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/454 "2022-07-09T13:26:31Z")
> [@phs3](#): > > For me, it’s always lighting and their attitudes toward it: a room long pre-electricity with one person in it will have several lamps burning, and they’ll go outside without putting any of them out (or taking one with). The room is always way too brightly lit for just candles or oil lamps. The only movies I can think of that portrayed this realistically are _ **Barry Lyndon** _ and _ **Heaven’s Gate** _. ---
**Author:** ![phs3](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/8491ac/32.png) [@phs3](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/phs3)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 2:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/455 "2022-07-09T14:32:09Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > The room is always way too brightly lit for just candles or oil lamps Thanks, that was my primary point, which I managed to omit! ---
**Author:** ![Wheelz](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wheelz/32/5718_2.png) [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/456 "2022-07-09T14:44:03Z")
Yeah, it’s always amusing when someone walks into a cave and lights a match that has the power of a 250-watt halogen spotlight. ---
**Author:** ![Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/ba9def/32.png) [@Just\_Asking\_Questions](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Just_Asking_Questions)\ **Post date:** [July 9, 2022, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/457 "2022-07-09T16:13:07Z")
I’m willing to forgive a lot of lighting issues. Otherise we’d all be going “what’s happening? I can’t see a thing!” The other example of this is “back lit night scenes”. Why is there a blue glow behind you? Shouldn’t you go check that out? Nighttime in the country with no moon is DARK. You can’t even see your feet. ---
**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:** [July 9, 2022, 4:26pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/458 "2022-07-09T16:26:01Z")
Right, like in _ **The Hateful 8** _. Minnie’s barn was beautifully backlit by 1860s technology! ---
**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:** [July 10, 2022, 12:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/459 "2022-07-10T00:52:41Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > I mentioned this in the Mrs Maisel thread (a show that’s full of anachronisms), but having a character at a 1964 hospital mention a desire for coffee and wonder “if the machine takes a twenty” is ridiculous. Bill-accepting vending machines didn’t exist then, and even now it’s very rare to find one that takes a $5, let alone a $20. And someone in the 1960s would have had change anyway (people carried a lot more change then because a lot of things you’d want to buy would cost less than a dollar) It’s even more ridiculous when you stop and think that $20 in 1964 would be about $188.58 today! Nobody’s going to carry that amount around casually, looking for a cup of coffee. ---
**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:** [July 10, 2022, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/460 "2022-07-10T01:09:32Z")
Absolutely. [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=22) [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=24)