"anachronism" and the OED

[Dan Goncharoff]

Sense 2 is a specific use of 'anachronism' as a shorthand term for
'practical anachronism', which is defined just is described after the
'hence'.

My problem would be the general sense of 'anachronism' as being in the wrong
time -- I vaguely recall the example of a clock striking in Shakespeare's
Julius Caesar as a well-known anachronism. Your description of Sense 1
doesn't clearly cover it. Or does it?

DanG


On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 6:22 PM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net> wrote:

> ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> -----------------------
> Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> Subject:      Re: "anachronism" and the OED
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> At 7/12/2011 04:38 PM, Dan Goncharoff wrote:
> >I am confused.
> >
> >Isn't the fact that this is sense 2 of anachronism demonstrate that it
> >doesn't restrict use of the term to practical anachronism?
> >
> >What is sense 1? I don't have the OED available to me at the moment.
>
> Sense 1 is about something else:
>
> 1. An error in computing time, or fixing dates; the erroneous
> reference of an event, circumstance, or custom to a wrong date. Said
> etymologically (like prochronism) of a date which is too early, but
> also used of too late a date, which has been distinguished as parachronism.
>
> What bothers me is the "hence" in sense 2.  A "therefore" makes it
> seem that what follows -- "anything which was proper to a *former*
> age" -- is an explanation of "Anything done or existing out of date",
> not one of several possible examples of that.
>
> Joel
>
>
> >DanG
> >
> >
> >On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 4:24 PM, Jonathan Lighter
> ><wuxxmupp2000 at gmail.com>wrote:
> >
> > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > -----------------------
> > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > Poster:       Jonathan Lighter <wuxxmupp2000 at GMAIL.COM>
> > > Subject:      Re: "anachronism" and the OED
> > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > >
> > > I agree completely.
> > >
> > > When I was in seventh grade, in the Mesolithic, we were told that the
> > > striking clock in _Julius Caesar_ was an "anachronism."  It may even
> have
> > > been in a printed footnote in our textbook.
> > >
> > > I remember because, needless to say, I'd never heard the word
> "anachronism"
> > > before. For a while I confused it  with "anarchism," which I believe I
> > > first
> > > read on the back of a bubblegum card, in connection with the
> assassination
> > > of Pres. McKinley by Leon Czolgosz in 1901.
> > >
> > > Predictable whine: They don't make bubblegum cards like they used to.
> > >
> > > JL
> > >
> > > On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 10:09 AM, Joel S. Berson <Berson at att.net>
> wrote:
> > >
> > > > ---------------------- Information from the mail header
> > > > -----------------------
> > > > Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> > > > Poster:       "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
> > > > Subject:      "anachronism" and the OED
> > > >
> > > >
> > >
> >
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> > > >
> > > > Sense 2 of "anachronism" is
> > > >
> > > > "2. Anything done or existing out of date; hence, anything which was
> > > > proper to a former age, but is, or, if it existed, would be, out of
> > > > harmony with the present; also called a practical anachronism. Also
> > > > transf. of persons."
> > > >
> > > > The first clause is general, but the second ("hence ...") seems to
> > > > restrict anachronisms to things *correct* of a former age but not for
> > > > the present.  Should this sense not also include the notion of
> > > > something *incorrect* of a former age, because it is not consistent
> > > > with that former age?  (Sometimes -- but not always! -- occurring
> > > > because the thing is true of the present age but has wrongly been
> > > > applied to the past.)
> > > >
> > > > For example, a film of "Lady Audley's Secret" (1860s) has one
> > > > character referring to another as a "golddigger".  That's a word in
> > > > harmony (considerably, but politics aside) with the present, but not
> > > > in use in the 1860s.  Is that not an anachronism?
> > > >
> > > > In fact, one quotation in the OED seems to have the sense I find not
> > > > included:
> > > > 1864    Round Table 18 June 4/3   She gives them phrases and words
> > > > which..had their beginning long since that period, and are in fact
> > > > linguistic anachronisms.
> > > >
> > > > Joel
> > > >
> > > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > > >
> > >
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > "If the truth is half as bad as I think it is, you can't handle the
> truth."
> > >
> > > ------------------------------------------------------------
> > > The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
> > >
> >
> >------------------------------------------------------------
> >The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org