THE DISCREPANCY // 073
Elementary, my dear Watson is inseparable from the popular image of Sherlock Holmes. The complete phrase is absent from Conan Doyle’s original Holmes stories, although its component phrases occur. Adaptations provide a separate trail.
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221B — Three digits and a letter hide behind a keyhole. The address opens another case.
BEFORE THE REFERENCE
Recall where you encountered the sentence: a printed story, performance, cartoon or imitation. If you remember a page, note which case was being solved. Keep the original stories distinct from later Holmes fiction and screen dialogue. The character can speak in many voices outside his first books.
THE TRACE TO FOLLOW
The Crooked Man is a useful place to inspect the related phrases. Compare their arrangement rather than treating nearby words as the familiar complete sentence. A later performance may genuinely say it. Which source would explain the delivery you remember so confidently?
Keep your first version
Record the detail before opening a reference. Keep the exact object, release or edition with your comparison. A first recollection and a later discovery can be followed as separate traces.
FOLLOW THE SOURCES
Compare the particular object, recording or documented account.
Reported recollections and discussion; a separate trail from the reference.