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This article, Anachronism, is property of KGBSpetsnaz.

An anachronism is a type of historical inaccuracy that misplaces something or someone from the time period that they’re supposed to take place in. Anachronisms may be done knowingly or unknowingly.

Common examples of anachronisms[]

  • Cavemen, woolly mammoths, or saber-toothed tigers living with dinosaurs. The Flintstones is especially notorious for this. In reality, dinosaurs were already extinct even in the time cavemen or those other mammals lived. Just ask the Great Marduk, he never saw any.
  • Wild West themes being featured in years after 1890, such as 1899 or 1911. The western frontier was already closed by the US Census Bureau halfway through 1890 IRL. The OG versions of Rootin' Tootin', Cowboy Shootin' and Red Dead Garlic bread had this anachronism but this Wiki converted it because unlike the RDR Wiki, we actually know our history. Also in RTCS there exists a Ku Klux Klan, despite there being no Klan active in 1899 to 1914, the timeline the entire OG series take place. Also, Dutch van der Linde can't be identified as a Marxist socialist because Marxist version of it didn't even exist in that time period.
  • William Shakespeare speaking Old English or Middle English. In reality, he spoke neither. He spoke Modern English in its earliest form. The other two forms of the English language were even more archaic sounding.
  • On a similar note, some people mistake the Middle Ages and the Renaissance for being the same time period. They weren’t. The former actually happened before the latter. Shakespeare was also Renaissance and not medieval.
  • A type of executional weapon called the guillotine being used in medieval and Renaissance settings. Guillotines were used in neither time period. In fact, they weren’t used until the French Revolution, which was after both aforementioned time periods.
  • The Shrek movie has a ton of these, but given it's stance as a comedy, that is rather understandable. One of the most known ones include when the horsemen who chased human Shrek and his pals were recording the chase with a camera in the Middle Ages, Simon Cowell somehow existing in the same timeline, TV's having remote controls and teens chewing bubble gums.
  • The fact that other planets unknown to us and universes/dimensions are supposedly having superior technology compared to humans, yet in Mortal Kombat, the planet of Outworld, Orderworld and all other planets except Earth, are still in the Middle Ages and before it in 1992-2020. At the same time those other worlds also have robot warriors and cyborgs, but can't figure how to make a telephone line, computer or a hard-drive. Also, MK series are not only poorly written stories with holes in every plotline, the evil characters are also represented being dumb as rocks.
  • Despite being highly speculated that Bully takes place in 2006, the Preppies and their mansions all look they're straight out from the 1980's. The cars in the game look like it as well. The Greaseballs don't count since being dressed like they're from the 50's or 60's is their gimmick.
  • The James Bond books and movies having the Soviet counterintelligence agency known as SMERSH as antagonists. Those movies were made and take place in the 1950s-1970s. However, SMERSH only existed from 1943-1946 in real life.
  • Kanye West in his song Back Skinhead mentions that he keeps it on "300, like the Romans", which is a reference to the famous 300 movie. However, the main characters in the said movie were actual Spartans from modern day Greece, not the Romans.
  • One of the objects you can buy in the General store in Red Dead Revolver 3dn edition is the Chernobyl Picture, despite the fact that the famous disaster of 24 BH wouldn't happen less than a century later. How is this possible you might ask yourself? Motherfuaking Saurians, man.
  • There is also such a thing as a geographical anachronism. A good example of this is penguins and polar bears being shown together in cartoons. In reality, penguins only live in cold regions of the Southern Hemisphere whereas polar bears only live in cold regions of the Northern Hemisphere.
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