# 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:** 10\ **Page:** 25
**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, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/481 "2022-07-10T22:32:35Z")
You’re right - don’t know why I said 1964 ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/482 "2022-07-12T02:21:52Z")
> [@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) I haven’t actually seen the episode, but… surely that’s the joke? She doesn’t actually expect such a machine to exist, she’s just being funny by wondering if such a patently ridiculous thing as a coffee machine that takes 20 dollar bills exists. If they actually showed a coffee machine with a bill reader, sure, but otherwise this seems like the shows titular smart ass being a smart ass. ---
**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 12, 2022, 2:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/483 "2022-07-12T02:23:45Z")
It’s Joel’s mother - a woman with no discernable sense of humor - who says it. Maybe it should be understood as a joke but it didn’t seem that way to me. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2022, 2:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/484 "2022-07-12T02:55:05Z")
> [@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, I’m not familiar with this show, I’ve never seen it, or even heard of it, let alone the scene you describe. Are you certain the date was 1964? Not 65 or 66? According to this cite, "In 1965, John Greenwick invented the first vending machine that accepted paper bills. " > **[10 Facts About the History of Vending Machines | Prestige Vending &...](https://prestigevendingaz.com/2013/11/10-facts-about-the-history-of-vending-machines/)** > > Throughout history there have been thousands of useful inventions created for the daily convenience of humans. Some of these inventions have led to making life easier when it comes to paying bills or simply being able to pick up a cellphone to send a... Is it possible that it wasn’t a mistake, but a deliberate and accurate reference to something that was brand new at the time depicted? And it’s possible that someone encountering it for the first time wouldn’t know if it takes twenties or not. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2022, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/485 "2022-07-12T03:45:04Z")
The current season (fourth) of _Mrs. Maisel_ takes place in 1960, so somewhat sooner. ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [July 12, 2022, 10:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/486 "2022-07-12T10:13:39Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > It’s Joel’s mother - a woman with no discernable sense of humor - who says it. She’s also a woman with a very tenuous connection to reality. ---
**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 12, 2022, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/487 "2022-07-12T10:37:07Z")
Unfortunately i was wrong in the other direction - it’s fall of 1960. ---
**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 12, 2022, 10:37am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/488 "2022-07-12T10:37:38Z")
Now that’s true. ---
**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:** [July 12, 2022, 12:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/489 "2022-07-12T12:44:46Z")
> [@terentii](#): > > 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** _. _The Draughtsman’s Contract_ did a pretty good job of it. ---
**Author:** ![JKellyMap](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jkellymap/32/15880_2.png) [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)\ **Post date:** [July 14, 2022, 1:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-was-the-most-anachronistic-thing-youve-seen-in-a-fictional-work-that-wasnt-intentional-or-an-accident/953956/490 "2022-07-14T13:58:16Z")
> [@kwintenstraler](#): > > Anatopism? Interesting. Noticing a film is in the “wrong place” is often about one’s area of expertise. My ornithologist friends cringe when they hear a New World bird call in a supposed Old World setting, when the rest of us don’t even notice there are birds in the soundtrack at all. [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=24)