Editing Sherlock Holmes (section)

==="Elementary, my dear Watson"===
The phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" has become one of the most quoted and iconic aspects of the character. However, although Holmes often observes that his conclusions are "elementary", and occasionally calls Watson "my dear Watson", the phrase "Elementary, my dear Watson" is never uttered in any of the sixty stories by Conan Doyle.<ref name="bostrom183">{{cite book|title=From Holmes to Sherlock|last=Boström|first=Mattias|publisher=[[Mysterious Press]]|year=2018|isbn=978-0-8021-2789-1|page=182|title-link=From Holmes to Sherlock}}</ref> One of the nearest approximations of the phrase appears in "[[The Adventure of the Crooked Man]]" (1893) when Holmes explains a deduction: {{"'}}Excellent!' I cried. 'Elementary,' said he."<ref name="snopes">{{cite web|url=https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elementary-my-dear-watson/|title=Sherlock Holmes and 'Elementary, My Dear Watson'|last=Mikkelson|first=David|date=2 July 2006|website=[[Snopes.com]]|access-date=27 December 2019|archive-date=31 October 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211031104708/https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/elementary-my-dear-watson/|url-status=live}}</ref><ref name="yale">{{cite book | last = Shapiro | first = Fred | author-link = Fred R. Shapiro | title = The Yale Book of Quotations | date = 30 October 2006 | publisher = [[Yale University Press]] | page = [https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300107982/page/215 215] | url = https://archive.org/details/isbn_9780300107982 | url-access = registration | isbn = 978-0300107982}}</ref>

[[William Gillette]] is widely considered to have originated the phrase with the formulation, "Oh, this is elementary, my dear fellow", allegedly in his 1899 play ''[[Sherlock Holmes (play)|Sherlock Holmes]]''. However, the script was [[Sherlock Holmes (play)#Revisions|revised numerous times]] over the course of some three decades of revivals and publications, and the phrase is present in some versions of the script, but not others.<ref name="bostrom183" /> The appearance of the line "Elementary, my dear Potson" in a Sherlock Holmes parody from 1901 has led some authors to speculate that, rather than this being an incidental formulation, the parodist drew upon an already well-established occurrences of "Elementary, my dear Watson."<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/07/19/sherlock-holmes/|title=A Study in Sherlock: Holmesian homages for Benedict's birthday|last=Tovey|first=Beth|date=19 July 2013|website=Oxford Dictionaries|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180711042152/https://blog.oxforddictionaries.com/2013/07/19/sherlock-holmes/|archive-date=11 July 2018|access-date=30 December 2019}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Shapiro |first=Fred R. |title=The New Yale Book of Quotations |publisher=Yale University Press |year=2021 |isbn=978-0-300-20597-8 |pages=226}}</ref>

The exact phrase, as well as close variants, can be seen in newspaper and journal articles as early as 1909.<ref name="bostrom183" /><ref>{{cite web|url=http://quoteinvestigator.com/2016/07/14/watson/|title=Elementary, My Dear Watson|website=Quote Investigator|date=14 July 2016 |access-date=3 January 2017}}</ref> It was also used by [[P. G. Wodehouse]] in his novel ''[[Psmith, Journalist]]'', which was first serialised in ''[[The Captain (magazine)|The Captain]]'' magazine between October 1909 and February 1910; the phrase occurred in the January 1910 instalment. The phrase became familiar with the American public in part due to its use in [[Sherlock Holmes (1939 film series)|the Rathbone-Bruce series of films]] from 1939 to 1946.<ref>{{cite book | last = Bunson| first = Matthew |author-link=Matthew Bunson | title = Encyclopedia Sherlockiana | publisher = [[Macmillan Publishers]] | year=1997| pages = 72–73 | isbn =0-02-861679-0 }}</ref>