THE FIRST WORD

anatopism

PRONUNCIATION:

(uh-NAT-uh-piz-ehm) 

MEANING:

noun: The error of placing something out of its proper place; also something placed erroneously.

ETYMOLOGY:

From Greek ana- (against) + topos (place). Anatopism is to place what anachronism is to time. Earliest documented use: 1812.

USAGE:

"The Bard is often accused of anatopism -- that is, getting his geography wrong. Why else would he, in The Taming of the Shrew, put a sailmaker in Bergamo, a landlocked city in Italy, ask critics?"
D. Murali; Shakespeare, 'Literary Equivalent of an Electron'; The Hindu (Chennai, India); Dec 2, 2007.