“should you rather that I sent James off to bed?” [TWIS]
One of the most vexing and early discrepancies in the Sherlock Holmes canon occurs in "The Man With the Twisted Lip," when Mrs. Watson refers to her husband as "James."
“It was very sweet of you to come. Now, you must have some wine and water, and sit here comfortably and tell us all about it. Or should you rather that I sent James off to bed?”“Oh, no, no! I want the doctor’s advice and help, too. It’s about Isa. He has not been home for two days. I am so frightened about him!”
Having clearly introduced us to himself as "John H. Watson, M.D., late of the Army Medical Department" in A Study in Scarlet, it strains credulity that the good doctor would have misprinted his own name. So what does that leave us?
Dorothy Sayers famously came up with what is probably the most clever and elegant solution when she suggested that Mrs. Watson was referring to her husband by his middle name, as something of a term of endearment.
"But wait," we hear you say. "His middle name started with 'H'!"
Yes, and that's where Sayers' solution is perfect. She suggested that Watson's middle name was Hamish, which is a Scottish version of James.
We have a companion Trifles episode on this topic: Episode 294 - James Watson, M.D., in which we discuss Tom Cynkin's look at the matter:
It's literally another Case of Identity. Speaking of identifying oneself, let's see what the boys at BSE are up to today...
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 the Baker Street Elementary website.
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