“oh, bless you” [STUD]
Did you know that in the entire Sherlock Holmes canon, a sneeze is not mentioned even once. Not just the physical act of sneezing, but even the phrase "nothing to sneeze at."
It's not that the expression wasn't known in Holmes's time. The first recorded use of the phrase in its current negative form, was in 1799, in a play by John Till Allingham: Fortune's Frolic:
"Why, as to his consent I don't value it a button; but then £5000 is a sum not to be sneezed at."
And the phrase "God bless you," so commonly uttered in response to a person sneezing, makes its appearance ten times in the stories — three times in "The Naval Treaty" (twice by Percy Phelps and once by Annie Harrison) and three times by Professor Coram in "The Golden Pince-Nez."
With all of that cigarette smoke, perhaps Anna had launched into a sneezing fit in the professor's room.
God bless the boys Baker Street Elementary...
Baker Street Elementary follows the original adventures of Sherlock Holmes and John Watson, as they and their friends work through the issues of elementary school in Victorian London. An archive of all previous episodes can be viewed at www.bakerstreetelementary.org.
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