BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 / meretriciouse

**Posted by tehanu** July 8, 2015 8:10 pm

Last year,

SusiGo wrote:
Just discovered something nice on tumblr. You all know the "meretricious" and "a happy new year" joke from TGG. But did you know the source? The gay writer and critic Gore Vidal (last paragraph).

http://www.salon.com/2014/05/22/how_one_sexy_gay_novel_derailed_gore_vidals_literary_career/

It IS fantastic to know, but I still don't get the joke, Vidal or no. I mean, I can see how they go from "meretricious" to "and a happy New Year" and yes, it is funny! Also that someone might think Vidal's work was meretricious. But WHY does Sherlock say it here? What does he mean? It means slutty, whorish; by extension, perhaps venal?

Oh, again, just talking to you people helps me think . Could you please check with me anyway somebody? English is not my first language.

So, it's not

John: Fantastic.
Sherlock: Meretricious,

it's

Sherlock: The picture's a fake ... meretricious.

Meaning, on the literal, pre-allusion level: it was forged for money. And just that? Meretricious is a weird way to say that.

Right, wrong? Help

**Posted by Harriet** July 8, 2015 8:12 pm

*Volunteers,* I needed also a while to get it:

Meretricous sounds slightly like Merry Christmas

Last edited by Harriet (July 8, 2015 8:15 pm)

**Posted by tehanu** July 8, 2015 8:28 pm

Harriet wrote:
*Volunteers,* I needed also a while to get it:

Meretricous sounds slightly like Merry Christmas

Yep, but that's the easy part :D

**Posted by Harriet** July 8, 2015 8:32 pm

Ok, then the more complicated is also beyond me

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** July 8, 2015 9:48 pm

I always thought "meretricious" meant simple, easy etc. . Like 'elementary' does.

**Posted by Sherlock Holmes** July 8, 2015 9:50 pm

This definition:1. superficially or garishly attractive2. insincere: meretricious praise.3. of, like, or relating to a prostitute

I think Sherlock meant it in the context of number 1. Superficial. It seemed interesting on the outside, but was in fact, very simple and obvious once they looked into it deeper.

**Posted by Whisky** July 9, 2015 1:52 am

Yes, that's also how I understood it (as simple, easy).
I never heard the similarity to "merry christmas", I simply assumed it must sound similar because of the "happy new year" that came afterwards. I suppose it's a lot easier for native speakers to hear it. or I simply pronounce "meretricious" very wrong. (though I am very sure an -ous ending will never sound like an -as ending, if I ever learned anything in university)

Last edited by Whisky (July 9, 2015 1:54 am)

**Posted by ukaunz** July 9, 2015 2:04 am

If you pronounce it as "mer-i-trish-uh s" it sounds more or less like Merry Christmas. I found another meaning which is "seeming attractive but really false or of little value", so perhaps Sherlock is saying that his deduction may seem clever to John and Lestrade, but he considers it so elementary that it hardly deserves praise.

**Posted by tehanu** July 9, 2015 6:25 am

Thank you all, and especially

Sherlock Holmes wrote:
This definition:1. superficially or garishly attractive2. insincere: meretricious praise.3. of, like, or relating to a prostitute

I think Sherlock meant it in the context of number 1. Superficial. It seemed interesting on the outside, but was in fact, very simple and obvious once they looked into it deeper.

See, I only knew the (literal, directly Latin-derived) sense 3. Now that you have quoted the other meanings I looked in the big Oxford, and it said, roughly, "1 of a harlot, 2 superficially or garishly attractive, especially of the style of a writer or painter." So yes, it must be as you say. Although I think it means he just doesn't like the painting! (And, to indulge in some unnecessary over-interpretation which goes well with the dialogue in the Vauxhall arches in the same episode: the painting is "insincere" in that does not do justice: to the actual night sky. )

**Posted by REReader** July 9, 2015 4:34 pm

ukaunz wrote:
If you pronounce it as "mer-i-trish-uh s" it sounds more or less like Merry Christmas. I found another meaning which is "seeming attractive but really false or of little value", so perhaps Sherlock is saying that his deduction may seem clever to John and Lestrade, but he considers it so elementary that it hardly deserves praise.

This.

Also, it's a callout to the ACD story "The Norwood Builder":

“Excellent!” I cried.

“Elementary,” said he. “It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction. The same may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious, depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted to the reader.

**Posted by Harriet** July 9, 2015 5:24 pm

tehanu wrote:
Harriet wrote:
*Volunteers,* I needed also a while to get it:

Meretricous sounds slightly like Merry Christmas
Yep, but that's the easy part :D

Isn't it?

**Posted by tehanu** July 11, 2015 1:17 pm

REReader wrote:
Also, it's a callout to the ACD story "The Norwood Builder":

“Excellent!” I cried.

“Elementary,” said he. “It is one of those instances where the reasoner can produce an effect which seems remarkable to his neighbour, because the latter has missed the one little point which is the basis of the deduction. The same may be said, my dear fellow, for the effect of some of these little sketches of yours, which is entirely meretricious, depending as it does upon your retaining in your own hands some factors in the problem which are never imparted to the reader.

Thank you, it's exactly the kind of thing that is helpful to know here.