Elementary my dear Watson

The title of this post is a familiar part of the English lexicon, and for most it is probably the first thing we think of when Sherlock Holmes is mentioned. Yet it never appears once in the entire Sherlock Holmes collection.

" 'Elementary,' said he." - Taken from the short story The Crooked Man in the collection Memoirs of Sherlock Holmes is the one of the few times, "elementary" is used this way by Sherlock Holmes author Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. Conan Doyle uses: " 'It is simplicity itself.' " and derivations thereof many, many times in his depiction of Sherlock Holmes; yet it is the phrase, "Elementary my dear Watson" - never once penned by Conan Doyle himself that has come to signify and encapsulate the worlds most famous detective.

Sir Arthur Conan Doyle the English physician/author developed the fictional super sleuth Sherlock Holmes in 4 novels and 56 short stories. The first was published in 1887 and the last in 1927. Doyle died three years later on July 7th, 1930.