I hit a variation of the Tiffany effect while trying to be clever on this thread four years ago (the book under discussion was
Crocodile on the Sandbank by Elizabeth Peters):
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
[...] * I did note one minor anachronism: the phrase "body bag" in a story set in 1884 is at least 30 years too early. I mention this only to be a smart ar-person.  It matters not at all to the story. (I spotted it thanks to another book I'd read earlier this year, otherwise I'd never have noticed.) |
Quote:
Originally Posted by stuartjmz
Interestingly, the OED has a citation for the phrase from 1885, but it's very unlikely to be in the context of a corpse container, almost cetainly in its older sense of "sleeping bag". Which is an interesting example of how meanings exapand over time, even if it doesn't let the author off the hook  |
Quote:
Originally Posted by gmw
Ooh... I missed that! I checked my OED but obviously didn't look far enough. A "sleeping bag" sense could cover the context in the book. That would make the mistake mine (I assumed she meant in the modern sense, being unaware of the old sense). I should have known better than to doubt Miss Amelia Peabody! 
Thanks for the correction. |