Historical Anachronisms in the New Sherlock Holmes Movie

Guy Ritchie's blockbuster version of Sherlock Holmes may be entertaining, but there were quite a few moments when historical inaccuracies ruined my suspension of disbelief. These are just a few of them.

• Sherlock Holmes would not have referred to cocaine as "yayo."
• Although the characters call them "instant telegrams," Holmes is clearly reading Dr. Watson's messages on a Blackberry.
• Oliver Cromwell did not invent the Segway.
• Europeans did in fact call America the "New World," but not because they thought that it was literally a different planet.
• Passenger pigeons did not have prehensile saddles. Holmes could not have ridden one from London to Edinburgh, let alone strapped a gatling gun to its breastbone.
• The psychokinetic implant that Watson uses to set Parliament on fire with his mind was not invented until 1926.
• When Robert Downey Jr. takes off his shirt and slowly oils his chest, the bird tattoo above the pelvis makes it obvious that his body double was Asia Argento.