From cjnwriter: "Wordplay."


"Watson, if you will insist on sighing in such a manner, I will insist that you do so elsewhere. It is entirely distracting."

Startled out of my reverie, I looked up to see Holmes glaring at me from his usual armchair. "Oh, I'm sorry, Holmes. I did not mean to disturb you."

Holmes sighed. "Let me have the words you are debating between. If I help you to choose the correct one, perhaps you will allow me to get back to my meditations in peace."

"That would be...wait a moment. How did you know that I was trying to choose between two words for use in my next publication?"

Holmes waved this off impatiently. "The words, Watson, the words."

I glanced back at the partly finished manuscript. "Well, as you know, my publishers at The Strand are demanding that I submit "The Adventure of Silver Blaze" by the end of next week. However, I cannot decide whether to refer to the circumstances of Mr. John Straker as 'peculiar' or 'extraordinary.'"

My friend's grey eyes narrowed. "I confess, I see no difference between the two. If you truly cannot decide, a simple flip of a coin should quite settle the matter."

"Indeed not!" I protested, startled at this inaccuracy. "There may be little denotational difference, yet there is a great deal of difference in connotation." I knew, of course, that Holmes did not value writing the way I did, but the preciseness of his language had always led me to believe that he was aware of such distinctions. "'Extraordinary' implies a sense of wonder along with the strangeness inherent in its definition. Many things are extraordinary, such as your ability to deduce the details of a crime from the smallest detail. In that sense, the death of John Straker was extraordinary because it was certainly unlooked for, yet inspired a certain degree of wonder and curiosity about how such an event could have taken place."

"Very well, Watson, if you…"

"But 'peculiar' implies a sort of intrinsic wrongness about the event, not merely something unusual..."

I must admit that I continued in this vein for quite some time, explaining the effect that various synonyms for 'strange' could have upon my reader and how they initially viewed the horse trainer's mysterious death. I confess that I also took some satisfaction in turning the tables upon Holmes, for he often blithely lectured me on the minute differences between inks or shoe treads, things I did not find interesting and knew little about!

At length, Holmes threw up his hands in surrender. "You have made your point, Doctor. I must bow to your far more extensive experience." He returned to staring into the fire without further comment, and I was able to return to my writing in peace.


Some months later

"Watson," Holmes exclaimed. "I have solved the case! It was simplicity itself once I had determined which brand of cigar the victim had been smoking when he died. Indian Trichinopoly cigars, like the ones you see here, are cheap and universally of crude manufacture…"

"How extraordinary, Holmes," I said calmly, rubbing at my aching shoulder.

To my surprise and delight, Holmes flushed red and changed the subject.