No sh*t, Sherlock

Posted by Smokey Stover on April 24, 2009 at 14:59

In Reply to: No sh*t, Sherlock posted by ESC on April 23, 2009 at 21:39:

: : : "No sh*t, Sherlock" - who coined that?
: : : Five years ago I am pretty sure I had never heard it; now I sometimes find myself saying it, and I have no idea where or when I first encountered it.

: : I recall an American friend (from Queens, New York) using it in the early 1970s.

: 1970s, originally U.S., ext. of "No, ****!" (late 19c). Sherlock is a pun on Holmes!, which itself puns on "homes"; plus ironic use of the fictional detective SHERLOCK Holmes. From Cassell's Dictionary of Slang by Jonathon Green (Wellington House, London, 1998). Page 847. I'm not sure what all that means -- the homes part.

Like ESC, I don't understand what Jonathan Green may have meant. I used to hear the phrase used pretty often, long before 1970, probably in the 1940s. My recollection is that it was then used as a longer version of today's "Duh!"--that is, as a sarcastic way of saying, "So your powers of deduction have led you to that amazing conclusion?" whereas "Duh!" gets us right to "Obviously."
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• No sh*t, Sherlock Brian from Shawnee 24/April/09
  • No sh*t, Sherlock Vair 26/April/09
    • No sh*t, Sherlock R. Berg 26/April/09