Help with the Actions of an NPC

[The Colonel]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

Agreed that they didn't exist as countries in 1914, but Bangladesh does originate in the Bengali language and means "land of the Bengali", so someone with service in Bengal may well make an association with then-India (which included Pakistan, Bangladesh and, I think, Burma/Myanmar). Pakistan may be more unlikely as it's etymology is mixed Persian (-stan, meaning "place of") and Urdu (pak, meaning "pure") [literally, place (or land) of the pure"] but, as Urdu is a major group of languages in India, I wouldn't rule the possibility out. In fairness, I did say service in India would probably be necessary to make the connection, refining exactly where in India it was necessary to have served to make the connection doesn't completely invalidate the observation.

Agree that anyone with the necessary languages could do the etymology - central Asia is full of "-istans" and Hindi and Urdu were the primary languages of the British Army of India. However, the names of non-existent states would certainly be a point of interest (much as finding something flagged as coming from the "Federated American Commonwealth" or something would concern a modern constable), over and above things coming from places that were only starting to establish export manufacturing.

[Þorkell]

Originally Posted by Curmudgeon

It isn't clear that the wristwatch with its glowing dials is digital.

Given the description as "The watch has glowing dials and appears to give information on temperature and altitude, as well as time and date. The time appears to be six hours late." it almost certainly is a ABC watch (Altitude Barometer Compass), and most of those are digital.

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by Þorkell

Given the description as "The watch has glowing dials and appears to give information on temperature and altitude, as well as time and date. The time appears to be six hours late." it almost certainly is a ABC watch (Altitude Barometer Compass), and most of those are digital.

Yes, I've just looked at some images of ABC watches and the ones that use digital displays as opposed to analog displays are going to trigger "he's not from around here" reactions. A fairly strong alternative hypothesis for the period may be that the gent is an extra-terrestrial rather than a time traveller. The glowing dials may suggest radium to the Chief Inspector, but I'm a bit puzzled about the description. Glowing seems apt for radium dials from the late 1950s through early 1960s and even applies to displays using LEDs but I'm dubious that LCD displays would be so described.

If the gent's wallet does show up, will it be recognized as a wallet? A leather wallet will be fairly obvious, but an aluminum wallet is somewhat less so.

[dcarson]

Unless they have Hidebound or a similar Disadvantage they'll come to time travel as a real possibility as soon as they do a detailed exam of his clothing and gear. I imagine that it will be longer before they use that phrase in any written communication. Sort of like how in Buffy the government team called vampires and demons, hostile sub terrestrials or HSTs.

[tanksoldier]

Now that we’ve established that the unconcious fellow is in deep do-do...

...would OP care to fill us in on what actually happened? He clearly ain’t intending to time travel... or if he was he’s a fool.

[The Colonel]

Oh, and that guy is unlikely to see his Glock again - expect it to be in bits all over the Royal Armouries Pattern Room. The generalities of the weapon won't be that big of a surprise, but the specifics and the materials of construction will warrant a lot of attention from the Master Armourer.

[Agemegos]

I think the docks were the jurisdiction of the Port of London Police from 1909 to 1992, and not of the Met. But maybe the PLA police were only responsible for stealing from the docks and ships, damage to them, etc.

The closest hospital to the docks was St Bartholemew's, several kilometres (depending on what part of London's vast docklands this is). Bart's treated outpatients and had doctors there full-time, but this is well before emergency rooms were invented. I think people would think of getting a doctor. The docks are not a residential area, and I doubt there were doctors living nearby. I would take the guy to the nearest police station (Wapping?) and send for a doctor.

Scotland Yard is a police headquarters, not a police station. This chap is going to end up in Canon Row Police Station, which is part of the same complex as Scotland Yard, but to a policeman quite distinct. The two are connected by a bridge over Derby Gate. But that's not where I would take him in the first instance, because it is a long way away from the docks. Most likely Special Branch will take him there.

Bulletproof vests of ballistic cloth (silk) were not unknown in 1914. The Archduke Franz Ferdinand owned one, and one saved the life of King Alfonso XIII of Spain in 1901.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

Of course Pakistan and Bangladesh don't exist in 1914 and Malaysia, whilst recognisable as a name was more of a geographical term, which may add a further wrinkle.

"Malaysia" could be parsed as having something to do with the Malay, but it was only adopted as the name of a country in 1963, when Malaya, Singapore (later expelled), North Borneo, and Sarawak formed a federal union. Before that, Wikipedia says it was used academically as one of several proposed names for the larger region of islands whose people spoke Malayan languages; but an academic name might well not be recognized in an ordinary investigation—it doesn't seem to have caught on as widely as Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia.

[whswhs]

Just as a minor note, my shirts all have labels, but they also have tags, usually down along the side, that specify composition, with percentages of different fibers (what would the contemps make, for example, of "3% spandex"?) and detailed washing instructions that assume automatic washing machines. The first automatic washing machines came on the market in 1937, so if the instructions are formulated in terms of "cycles" or the like they will read strangely. And if any of them are permanent press the contemps may not know how to wash them without degrading them, unless the instructions are detailed.

[Bruno]

The sheer number of international labels that are entirely in English would also be a little startling, one would think. Above and beyond the number of labels, and the labels indicating nonexistant points of origin, would a garment made in China in the early 1900s have no Chinese on the label? The manufacturers being unfamiliar is one thing, the manufacturers being apparently anglo in all these foreign locations is also odd.