Talk:holmes

Etymology

How would one go about determining the correct etymology? Since it's a slang word, and it has an uncertain etymology, it seems to me that it's just as likely that "holmes" is a misspelling of "homes" which would in turn be derived from homeboy or homey. If this etymology is going to stand, then there needs to be a citation of some kind. Hmoulding 23:59, 2 December 2008 (UTC)

This looks like a good guess. Misspelling is generally not an acceptable answer, because it is an unscientific judgment. "holmes" seems to me to be an eye-dialect spelling of what someone heard. The audio is not consistent with that. What was said was likely just a pronunciation of homes. But where did the "-s" come from? Even street kids watch television, see movies, and go to school so they may have been "influenced by" "Holmes". We are in no position to do the research. We can only rely on contributors' opinions averaging toward a stable answer, unless there is some consensus among reference works or research that we can get access to. DCDuring TALK 23:37, 10 December 2008 (UTC)