Query

[Tante Shvester]

In fin de siècle London, were pharmacies call apothecaries or chemists?  And how do I go about finding out such a thing, besides, you know, asking my favorite GC linguist?

I've begun an unaccustomed foray into fanfic, specifically Sherlock Holmes stories.  It's a lot of fun, but sometimes I'm a little hung up on the correct vocabulary.

As an aside, I was kind of shocked at the gratuitous bigotry that Doyle throws around!  I hadn't read through his opus (I'm partway through now).  Yikes!  I can see why he would be well-loathed in some quarters.

My versions are bigotry-free!

[Porter]

Will it be Holmes free?  'Cuz he's a pretty loathesome protagonist in his own right.

[Tante Shvester]

Well, you see, it's slashfic.  You know how Watson has a huge crush on Holmes?  Well, in my version, feelings are reciprocated and, well...

 

[Porter]

You know how Watson has a huge crush on Holmes?

I never thought of it that way.

Heroe worship != crush

[Jonathon]

The OED says this:

The earlier name for: One who prepared and sold drugs for medicinal purposes—the business now (since about 1800) conducted by a druggist or pharmaceutical chemist. From about 1700 apothecaries gradually took a place as general medical practitioners, and the modern apothecary holds this status legally, by examination and licence of the Apothecaries' Company; but in popular usage the term is archaic.

[kojabu]

Well, you see, it's slashfic.  You know how Watson has a huge crush on Holmes?  Well, in my version, feelings are reciprocated and, well...

Oh! And I have a game called 221 B Baker Street and in it there's an apothecary.  

[Tante Shvester]

Thanks JB.  So, I guess "druggist" or "chemist" would be appropriate.  I know that "apothecary" is archaic now, I just wasn't sure if it would sound that way 100-some years ago.

And Porter, you are forgetting the fact that I assume that everyone is gay.  Holmes and Watson included.

[Porter]

And Porter, you are forgetting the fact that I assume that everyone is gay. Holmes and Watson included.

You seem to be forgetting that we don't all share that quirk of yours.

[kojabu]

Gay until proven otherwise?

[Tante Shvester]

I have a game called 221 B Baker Street and in it there's an apothecary.

Well, that confuses things for me more.  I'd like to use the word "apothecary", because, well, I like the word and feel bad that it doesn't get a chance to get out much.  And it is important to me that my trashy fiction be as well-crafted as I can make it.

[Tante Shvester]

Gay until proven otherwise?

Yeah, pretty much.

[Porter]

And how can this be proven?

[Jonathon]

Unfortunately, since you're a Mormon male, it can never be proven.

[Tante Shvester]

And how can this be proven?

I have no idea.

[Porter]

So, if you assume everybody is gay unless proven otherwise, and you don't have any way for people to prove to you that they aren't gay, does the word "gay" become synonomous with the word "alive"?

[Tante Shvester]

I don't think so.  I know plenty of people who assume that everyone is straight "unless proven otherwise".  Does that make straight synonymous with alive?

[Porter]

It depends on their criterion for "proven otherwise".  If it's impossible for somebody to be proven straight to them, then possibly.

You see by your criterion, the set of "people who are alive" and "people who are gay" are exactly the same, making the words, in some ways, indistinguishable from each other.

---

Myself, I tend to take people's word on such things.  If you say you're gay, I believe you.  If you say you're not, I believe you.

Usually.

[Tante Shvester]

Myself, I tend to take people's word on such things.  If you say you're gay, I believe you.  If you say you're not, I believe you.

Me too.  But I rarely ask.

[Porter]

I don't believe I've ever asked anybody in my life.

[Tante Shvester]

Well, I was going to say "never ask", but then I remembered that I did ask someone if they were looking for a man or a woman, when they asked if I knew anyone suitable for a romance.

Of course, I spoke without thinking first, and immediately regretted my question.  I ought to have said something along the lines of "tell me about the kind of person you are looking for."

But that's the time that turned my "never" into a "rarely".

[Porter]

Why did you regret your question?  

And in fact, why did you even need to ask, if you already knew they were gay, just like everybody else?

[Tante Shvester]

The question embarrassed the other person.  And even though I have that unconscious assumption, doesn't mean that I am dolt enough to assume that my unconscious assumptions are correct.

[pooka]

I think all people are potentially gay, in the same sense that all people are potentially anorexic.  I think some people fall easily into it, and pretty much anyone could be trained into it.  But that's very different from saying everyone is anorexic until proven otherwise.

[Tante Shvester]

OK. I've been doing my own research, pretty much reading stuff that was current at the time, and in fin de siecle London, they called pharmacies, "chemists".  "Apothecary" was not unknown but would have sounded really quaint.

I finished my Sherlock Holmes story, and I'm kind of sad, because I had such a good time writing it!  And researching the period, including the very limited pharmacopeia they had at their disposal, was really interesting.

[pooka]

Wasn't it principally comprised of things that made you purge one way or the other?  Calomel and whatnot?