#given that i'm writing in english which is a mutt language

[semperintrepida]

Descriptions and metaphors I haven’t been able to use while writing stories set in Ancient Greece:

anything related to clocks ("tick of time", "like clockwork") or smaller units of time (minutes and seconds)

anything related to gunpowder ("exploded", "cannoned")

machine-related terms ("motored", "pistoned", "windmilled", "[do something] mechanically")

electronic terms ("flipped a switch", "closed the circuit", "picked up the signal")

sneakily anachronistic idioms ("called their bluff", "show their hand")

the concept of adrenaline (and cousins dopamine and serotonin)

any reference to the brain being the source of intellect

so many medical/anatomical concepts — air can be breathed into the chest, but nothing about oxygen in the blood, energy in the blood, blood cells, etc

L-shaped, U-shaped — no such letters by those names in the Greek alphabet

I'm sure I've let plenty of anachronisms slip into what I've written for the AC: Odyssey fandom over the years, but I've tried my best to honor the time period. Every description and metaphor in fiction comes from the POV character (or omniscient narrator), and the words on the page should only be things they would know. (Maybe one day I'll write a little essay about third person limited/close POV and all the ways I adore it.)

That said, AC: Odyssey has a few temporal slip-ups of its own. My favorite is characters saying "okay"—and I'm eternally grateful for that because it means I can use it in my stories guilt-free.

Anyway, it's fun to ride the line between authenticity and pedantry.