Anachronisms in Fantasy

Anyone else is bothered by anachronisms in works of Fantasy that are supposed to happen in ancient times?
The worse example of all, characters saying “OK" in medieval inspired Fantasy:
“Boy, go fetch me my horse and make haste of it.”
“OK, my Lord.”
I notice this a lot in inexperienced beginners but it really makes me cringe when I find it in books acclaimed by critics and published traditionally.
I’m reading “Daughter of the Forest” by Juliet Marillier and though I‘m enjoying the story and the writing the anachronisms are beginning to annoy me to distraction. It’s a first person narration (to make it slightly worse) happening in 9th century Britain. I was aghast when I read words like “manicured” hands and “picnic”. In first person. As a non-native I even checked the etymology of the words. Maybe these were long forgotten Celtic terms and I didn’t know about it. But that’s not what etymology says. The words weren’t used until the 18th century and there was no need whatsoever to use them to make things clear. “Well trimmed nails” and “a meal outside” would have worked just fine. I’m surprised that this got past the traditional publishing process and didn’t seem to bother anyone involved.
I’ve noticed more anachronistic words and idioms, but nothing so offensive. Picnic was indeed the last straw. Hence the rant.

Anyone else hates it as much? Why aren’t beginner writers more advised against this? That, for instance, there was no such thing as a “bathroom” until, I don’t know, the 19th century, in some cases later? That people used a chamber pot and bathed in their sleeping quarters, when they did bathe? (This example is not from the same book.)

 

Occasionally. But what I dislike even more- trying to read Old English or most other older forms of writing.

Yet you knew what was going on in the story I am guessing, so it worked.

 

Yeah, I'm with you. Why to read an medieval setting when you keep finding the same modern speech which one can hear from the radio, TV or the grocery store down the street?
I believe this (error?) breaks the mood of the scene and makes you think: "Right, what didn't the author just write an emoji here? At least, it would save me some time."
However, I find interesting modern speech in medieval settings (fantasy, sci-fi, etc) that are conceived to be different or humorous. IMO, this use has to be go along with the world and characters.
One of the things that surprised me from the Geralt's de Rivia Saga (medieval fantasy for grown ups) was the voice of the characters. The speech is full of ancient modisms and precise words that I've never read before. I learned a lot of new Spanish words. ("What??? We have a verb to express ALL of that?")

 

I rather to read: country meal or something descriptive, so I can translate in my head as a modern picnic.

 

I remember one example in Game of Thrones where a character is described as falling onto his "butt" or "ass". One of those two. And I was instantly drawn out of pseudo-Medieval mood and into that of contemporary American slang.

 

They didn't have asses in GoT? I read about quite a few.....

 

That's what threw me, to be honest. They're mentioned a lot, but George Martin usually uses the words "arse," "backside," or bottom." The use of ass/butt just stuck out like a sore ... well ... ass. What was worse was that it was Tyrion who thought in that term and he's supposed to be the intellectual one.

 

I may have missed that or just passed it by. Good catch! I'll be watching a little closer now when I finally pick up Fire and Ice.

 

Sorry, no it didn't. It distracted me completely from the story. Made the reading experience worse. Much worse because the word picnic was not needed.

 

Doesn’t bother me in a made-up world unless the author is violating what they’ve established as the rules of the setting. There are no real anachronisms in made up fantasy apart from those.

If it’s set in the real world it is a problem.

 

This doesn’t bother me. It’s a made up world. The dialogue is all in modern English, or at least prominently so.

 

I don’t like language in this sort of fantasy for which the origin is too obvious—unless it’s a clear conscious design decision, like in the TV series Britannia. But “picnic” wouldn’t have bothered me, because I had no idea that it was a relatively modern word. Actually, “manicured” wouldn’t either.

 

No, by that line of logic the entire book is "anachronistic", last time I checked I wasn't able to understand old english and only a few words in middle english.

 

Doesn’t make sense to me. Are you saying you’re ok with all of the magic, creatures, supernatural, and other elements that a high fantasy world has but if the speech of the world has the phrase “fuck off” that’s suddenly too much for you?

 

I suspect you are an anomaly as a reader.

 

Obvious language anachronisms definitely bother me, too, though I don't regard that particular one as an obvious language anachronism.

Imagine that someone in that fantasy world were, say, wearing Air Jordans. It would bother you, right?

 

Not only would "ass" not pull me out of a medieval fantasy world, I would likely prefer it over "arse."

 

Yeah, but it's fantasy. Given the world doesn't technically exist, why is it more plausible that they speak pseudo-Early Modern English rather than Post Industrial English. If you wanted to get rid of all the linguistic anachronisms based on it's medieval European setting, the characters should mostly be speaking Middle English or Old French.