“Elementary, my dear Watson.”
The iconic phrase was never said in any of Arthur Conan Doyle’s 56 short stories and four novels following Sherlock Holmes’ investigations.
The closest Holmes ever comes to uttering the phrase is in The Crooked Man:
“I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson,” said he. “When your round is a short one you walk, and when it is a long one you use a hansom. As I perceive that your boots, although used, are by no means dirty, I cannot doubt that you are at present busy enough to justify the hansom.”
“Elementary” is only mentioned seven other times throughout the London detective’s many exploits, though “my dear Watson” is seen in most of the stories. However, they are never muttered in the same sentence.
The misquote is believed to come from another serial from the early 1900s — Psmith, Journalist by P.G. Wodehouse — that took a lot of inspiration from Holmes.
“Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” murmured Psmith.
Or there’s a chance a stage actor uttered the phrase before the turn of the century, and it simply wasn’t documented.
But Sherlock Holmes, in his original works, never said his most iconic phrase.
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