The exact words
What Holmes actually says
Arthur Conan Doyle wrote sixty Sherlock Holmes stories, four novels and fifty-six short stories, between 1887 and 1927. Readers who search them for the most famous line in detective fiction will not find it. Holmes never says “Elementary, my dear Watson.”
He comes close. In “The Crooked Man,” published in The Strand Magazine in 1893, Holmes makes one of his quick deductions about Watson’s daily life, and Watson exclaims, “Excellent!” Holmes replies with a single word: “Elementary.” Two lines earlier, in the same exchange, he had begun, “I have the advantage of knowing your habits, my dear Watson.” He uses “my dear Watson” in many other stories too, often with a touch of affectionate impatience. The two pieces were sitting a few lines apart, waiting for someone to join them.
Who joined them
The earliest known use of the full phrase comes from P. G. Wodehouse. In his 1915 comic novel Psmith, Journalist, the elegant Psmith solves a small puzzle and murmurs, “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” a clear joke at Holmes’s expense. Parody often fixes a character’s voice better than the original, and this one stuck.
When Sherlock Holmes arrived in sound films, the phrase came with him. The 1929 film The Return of Sherlock Holmes used it, and the many films, radio plays and cartoons that followed turned it into Holmes’s catchphrase. By the middle of the century it was so familiar that most people assumed it came from the books.
How to use it
The phrase is now a standard joke for pointing out that something is obvious, and there is nothing wrong with using it that way. In writing about Holmes, though, avoid presenting it as Conan Doyle’s line. “The phrase Holmes never actually says” is a fun detail that shows you know the books.
What people get wrong
Sherlock Holmes's famous catchphrase from the books.
A phrase that never appears in Conan Doyle's 60 Holmes stories. It was put together later by parodists and filmmakers from two things Holmes did say.
Timeline
- 1887Sherlock Holmes first appears in A Study in Scarlet.
- 1893In “The Crooked Man,” Holmes answers Watson's praise with a single word, “Elementary.” It is the closest the stories come to the catchphrase.
- 1915P. G. Wodehouse's comic novel Psmith, Journalist has a character murmur, “Elementary, my dear Watson, elementary,” as a joke about Holmes.
- 1929The first Sherlock Holmes sound film, The Return of Sherlock Holmes, uses the phrase.
- 1930s onwardFilms, radio and parodies make it Holmes's best-known line.
Use it in a speech
Questions people ask
Does Sherlock Holmes say “Elementary, my dear Watson” in the books?
No. The phrase does not appear in any of the four novels or 56 short stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
What does Holmes actually say?
In “The Crooked Man” (1893), when Watson cries “Excellent!”, Holmes replies, “Elementary.” In the same scene, two lines earlier, he calls him “my dear Watson,” but the two never appear in one sentence.
Where does the full phrase come from?
The earliest known use is P. G. Wodehouse's Psmith, Journalist (1915), where it is a joke about Holmes. Films from 1929 onward made it Holmes's catchphrase.
Cite this quote
These cite the original source directly, so you can use them in an essay or paper. Always check your teacher's required style.