Reichenbach Day: a rant.

Sherlock Holmes?

No, I can't say I've ever fancied Sherlock Holmes. Dr Watson, of course, is lovely, though the way Watson's wife (if there is just the one wife) has such trouble staying dead is a bit worrying.

Anyway, the BBC has come up with a TV programme called Sherlock. It's a quirky, fast-paced, modern-day version of Arthur Conan Doyle's Holmes stories.

Yes, it sounds dreadful, doesn't it. But really, it's not. It's brilliant.

So anyway, on the night of the transmission everyone sits down, all ready to be transfixed and bewildered (so many conversations the next day will begin but why...? how did...?). 

And then some idiot announcer goes and asks: 'Can Sherlock solve the puzzle set by his ultimate nemesis?'

Aaargh!

Ultimate nemesis.

So.

That means Sherlock dies, then.

Yep. Nemesis means just deserts (originally) or (more often nowadays) downfall, and ultimate means final.

So he's going to die.*

Now, as it happens I had a good idea of this, anyway, because I knew the baddy was called Moriarty, and you seldom hear anyone with a good word to say about Moriarty.

In future, though, I can see I'm going to have to spend the few seconds before the start of  TV programmes with my fingers in my ears going la la la la la.

Hm... 

I hate to think what Sherlock Holmes would have made of that.

Word To Use Today: ultimate. This word is from the Latin word ultimus, last, from ulter, which means distant.

*But don't forget that in Sherlock few things are quite as they seem...

Oh, and Happy Australia Day to all The Word Den's friends in Oz.