Overview
The anecdote tells the story of an event involving Arthur Conan Doyle, the writer famous for the Sherlock Holmes novels (see Appendix). As Sherlock Holmes became the popular symbol of the detective, Doyle also became important for the detective narrative style. This anecdote uses humor and a plot twist to show the public’s perception of Conan Doyle as the arbiter of the detective skills of his readers.
Characteristics
This anecdote can be humorous and characterizing, since it aims to recount a funny occasion and to characterize the famous person in public discourse. It reinforces the representation of Doyle as a detective himself, omitting his writing career and ignoring other novels he wrote. Although the situation is more likely to be imaginary, it still resembles the common behavior of readers of Sherlock Holmes when meeting Doyle.
Structure and Word Choice
The anecdote follows the basic structure, beginning with an introduction of the characters, a climax, and an ending, showing the humorous twist to entertain the reader. Rustamov et al. (2021) also point out that the wordplay or humor usually serves as the culmination of the anecdote. The anecdote uses active verbs to show the actions of the characters and their interactions through dialogue.
Mode of Transmission
Since the anecdote is used to entertain the general audience, it lacks a stable recording method. Lehman et al. (2020) also note that most anecdotes spread through word of mouth and typically occur in conversations. It does not parallel similar events or share the underlying inspirational motives, but it still works in its entertainment function.
Functions
The anecdote serves several functions and ideas in the text: it is both humorous and characterizing, and it also provides a joke for the audience. Astuti et al. (2021) note that humor in modern life has broader implications than it did in the past. Similarly, this anecdote can be reviewed and studied from different perspectives. This implies its implication not only in humor but also in other functions.
References
Astuti A. D., Chandra H. O. (2021). Speech Acts and the Common Problems Involved in a Humor Text. Culturalistics: Journal of Cultural, Literary, and Linguistic Studies, 5(1), 65-72.
Lehman J. et al. (2020). The Surprising Creativity of Digital Evolution: A Collection of Anecdotes from the Evolutionary Computation and Artificial Life Research Communities. Artif Life, 26 (2), 274-306.
Rustamov I.T., Mamatqulov J.S., Boymatov A. A. (2021). The Place of Small Genre Texts in Genre Features. Annals of the Romanian Society for Cell Biology, 5325–5331.
Appendix
Arthur Conan Doyle, the famous author of detective stories, once came to Paris. He hired a cab at the railway station to go to the hotel.
“What hotel would you like to go to, Mr Conan Doyle” asked the cabman.
The writer was greatly surprised. “How do you know my name?” he asked.
“Well, it’s simple,” the cabman said. “The other day I read in the newspapers that you would probably visit Paris. Then I noticed that your suit was made of good English tweed.
“Wonderful!” said Conan Doyle. “You are a born detective!”
“Thank you, Sir,” the cabman replied. “But another fact also helped me to identify you.”
“What is it?” asked the writer.
“You see, your name is written on your luggage.”