One of America’s best-loved comic short story writers does a Holmes pastiche. And there’s nothing funny about it at all. I wonder if this may have been the worst story O. Henry ever wrote. Even the detective’s name, Shamrock Jolnes, is a miss. Hemlock Jones in Bret Harte’s terrific “The Stolen Cigar-Case” was funnier.
As for the story, it’s about a man looking for his missing sister in the Big Apple. After being fleeced by a police detective, and Jolnes’s inductive method being exposed as a sham, the sister’s location is whimsically discovered by a third sleuth. First published in 1904, the jokes here haven’t aged well, to the point where for most readers they might need to be explained. Which means they aren’t jokes anymore.
Alex Good 
Shamrock Jolnes? Really? That is pretty bad all by itself…
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Yeah that really shows the level it’s operating on. It’s bad.
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Well, as long as the story didn’t invade your dreams, you escaped relatively unscathed…
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It’s already wiped from my cerebral hard drive.
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I just hope you didn’t delete some necessary files when you got rid of this one. That’s the worst…
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Is that a silent L?
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I doubt it. Considering this is a Holmes pastiche, my guess is that it is supposed to sound “Holmes”ish
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But doesn’t Holmes have a silent L?
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I think Booky’s probably right.
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So Hole-mz and Jole -nz? Well y’all do y’all but Holmes is an Englishman so here in the motherland he’s pronounced Homes. Not sure what nationality old Jolnes is though. 😁
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Seems to be no clear agreement on this. I do pronounce the “l” but only slightly, so that it’s at least hinted at.
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Ok. Silent letters annoy me.
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That’s how I’d pronounce both.
However, I’m sure I’ve heard it Homes and just assumed the speaker was being lazy.
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Nah they’re just being English 🤣🤣
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And now I know!
And knowing is 77/153rds of the battle…
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But the 77/153rds are silent.
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Silent.
But deadly…
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Blimey, I only do percentages so that means nothing to me 🤣
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I’m not sure if it means much to anyone.
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🤣
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GI Joe is very disappointed to hear that…
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GI Jane doesn’t give a monkey’s…. 😉
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Hahahaha!
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You mean Demi Moore?
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