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What is the word for the mistake of placing an event or object in the wrong age or decade, such as a film star in a movie about Roman times wearing a robe made of nylon?

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2 Answers

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The word is anachronism:

anachronism The representation of someone as existing or something as happening in other than chronological, proper, or historical order.

To use it as an adjective or adverb, use anachronistic or anachronistically.

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Not to be confused with anarchism... There's a song (supposedly based on true events) about how the FBI investigated the Society for Creative Anachronism, based on said word switch. The refrain of the song starts, "we're just harmless historical nuts." – JPmiaou Mar 18 '11 at 13:47
@JPMiaou: Harmless, eh? It's the damned anachronists who wanted to replace the FBI's Glocks with crossbows and maces. And how would they fight crime then? – Robusto Mar 18 '11 at 13:54
nice and quietly-like, of course. – JPmiaou Mar 18 '11 at 14:04
up vote 3 down vote

I think you might mean anachronism. (sp?) I have too much cold medicine pumping through my bloodstream to know if I spelled it correctly.

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Or to notice that Robusto posted the same thing five minutes before? It is spelled correctly, at least. – mmyers Mar 18 '11 at 14:56
...And get well soon! – kitukwfyer Mar 18 '11 at 17:38

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