No sh*t, Sherlock

Posted by Vair on April 26, 2009 at 15:55

In Reply to: No sh*t, Sherlock posted by Brian from Shawnee on April 24, 2009 at 20:30:

: : : : : "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."
: : SS

: Homes = Homie; homeboy; home dawg; home slice. I don't really get the connection either unless "homes" changed to "Sherlock" when the phrase jumped from the ghetto to the suburbs.

Checked with a couple of guys who were in high school in the '70's. They didn't associate "homes" with "Holmes." As said, "Sherlock" equaled "Duh!" "Homes" acknowledged a fellow: homeboy, homey, homes. Of course, now that I've asked, they can see a possible connection between "homes" and "Holmes", but it wasn't in their heads until I asked.

• No sh*t, Sherlock R. Berg 26/April/09