Information about Double Meaning

A double entendre is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. This can be as simple as a phrase which has two mutually exclusive meanings, and is thus a clever play on words. An example of this would be the title of the short story, "The Most Dangerous Game", by Richard Connell, in which the title can refer both to the "game" that is most dangerous to hunt, and "game" that is most dangerous to play.

But for many, perhaps even most, persons, a risque, even sexual, element is central to their understanding of double entendre. The Oxford English Dictionary defines it as 'A double meaning; a word or phrase having a double sense, especially as used to convey an indelicate meaning' [emphasis added]. In these cases, the first meaning is presumed to be the more innocent one, while the second meaning is risque, or at least ironic, requiring the hearer to have some additional knowledge.

Structure

When innuendo is used in a sentence, it could go completely undetected by someone who was not familiar with the hidden meaning, and he or she would find nothing odd about the sentence (aside from other people finding it humorous for seemingly no reason). Perhaps, because an innuendo is not considered offensive to those who do not "get" the hidden implication, it is often prevalent in sitcoms and other comedy which would in fact be considered suitable for children. Children would find this comedy funny, but because most children lack understanding of the hidden implication in innuendo, they would find it funny for a completely different reason than most adult viewers.

The expressions may contain other forms of ambiguity, famous examples being the use of the word Logos in the Gospel of John and the phrase "Let him have it" allegedly said by Derek Bentley (see those articles for further details), but they would not normally be classed as double entendre.

Although an expression made of French words, it is not correct modern French; the French use the term double sens ("double sense [or meaning]") for such phrases. While the phrase "double entendre" has become common in the vocabulary of everyday American English, "double entendre" is in fact incorrect for "double entente", which in French translates to "a double or equivocal meaning; a play on words". ^[1]

Historical usage

The poem Ozymandias by Percy Shelley published in 1818 is an example of ironic double entendre. Looking upon the shattered ruins of a colossus, the traveller reads:

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings:
Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

King Ozymandias' intended meaning of "despair" was that nobody could hope to equal his achievements, but time and neglect have rendered another meaning – that the mighty are mortal and will inevitably share his fate of oblivion in the sands of time.

An early example of double entendre in literature is the title of Sir Thomas More's fictional work Utopia. Thomas More describes his fictional nation Utopia in detail but purposely gives no hint as to this name's pronunciation. If it is pronounced "YOO-topia", the word translates into the Greek for "good country" or "beautiful country". However, if it is pronounced "OOH-topia", then it means "no such place".

One of the earliest examples of risque double entendre in American culture was the late 19th-century vaudeville act, the Barrison Sisters. They danced, raising their skirts slightly and asking the audience: "Would you like to see my pussy?" After an enthusiastic response, they would raise up their skirts, revealing live kittens secured over their crotches.

Bawdy double entendres were the trademark of Mae West, in her early-career vaudeville performances as well as in her later movies.

Modern usage

Double entendres have now become more popular in modern movies and television works, as a way to conceal adult humor in a work aimed at general audiences. The James Bond films are rife with such humour. For example, in Tomorrow Never Dies (1997), when Bond is disturbed by the telephone while in bed with a Danish girl, he explains that he's busy brushing up on his Danish, to which Moneypenny replies, "You always were a cunning linguist, James." (The joke, of course, is that cunning linguist sounds like cunnilingus.)

Another example would be "I broke a g-string while fingering a minor" which is a double entendre understood only by guitarists or musicians who would understand that the g-string is a guitar string and a minor is a chord.

In an episode of the television sitcom Scrubs, The Todd asks why women don't like him. An attractive nurse who works at the hospital tells him that it's because he's "slimy and turns everything into a double entendre". Todd protests this, but when the nurse leaves the scene, The Todd says "I'd like to double her entendre."

Many commercials for Overstock.com feature double entendres, as an attractive woman talks about the "O" and "Big O", which could reference the website itself, but clearly call to mind the word "orgasm", which is often called the "O" or the "Big O". ^[2][3][4][5]

The title of the anime series The Big O is sometimes thought to be a fairly oblique double entendre.

One popular joke that simultaneously contains and defines a double entendre typically is told as: "A girl walks into a bar and orders a double entendre... so the bartender gives it to her."

A popular phrase used to point out a double entendre is "That's what she said!" For example, when speaking of moving a couch: "It was huge, and took forever to get inside." "That's what she said!". Used often by Michael Scott on the hit NBC show, The Office. Also featured in Family Guy, Rules of Engagement, Wayne's World, and "Beverly Hills Ninja" starring Chris Farley (1997).

British comedy

Sexual innuendo is common in British sitcoms and radio comedy such as I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue. For example, in Are You Being Served?, Mrs. Slocombe makes frequent references to her "pussy", such as "It's a wonder I'm here at all, you know. My pussy got soakin' wet. I had to dry it out in front of the fire before I left." Someone unfamiliar with sexual slang might find this statement funny simply because of the references to her pussy cat, whereas generally a viewer would be expected to detect the innuendo ("pussy" is sexual slang for vagina).

Innuendos have not only been used in modern times—there are riddles in Old English with different possible interpretations. Shakespeare used innuendos in his plays. Indeed, Sir Toby in Twelfth Night is seen saying, in reference to Sir Andrew's hair, that "it hangs like flax on a distaff; and I [Sir Toby] hope to see a housewife take thee [Sir Andrew] between her legs and spin it off;" the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet says that her husband had told Juliet when she was learning to walk that "Yea, dost thou fall upon thy face? Thou wilt fall backward when thou hast more wit;", or is told the time: "The bawd of the hand is upon the very prick of noon"; and in Hamlet, Hamlet torments Ophelia with a series of sexual puns, viz. "country" (similar to "cunt.")

Attitudes to this kind of humour have changed enormously since the 19th century. In the Victorian theatre, innuendo was considered unpleasant, particularly for the ladies in the audience, and was not allowed. In the music hall, on the other hand, innuendo was in constant use in songs. Music Hall in this context is to be contrasted with Variety, the one common, low-class and vulgar; the other demi-monde, worldly and sometimes chic.

In the 20th century, there began to be a bit of a crackdown on lewdness, including some prosecutions. It was the job of the Lord Chamberlain to examine the scripts of all plays for indecency.

Nevertheless, some comedians still continued to get away with it. Max Miller, famously, had two books of jokes, a white book and a blue book, and would ask his audience which book they wanted to hear stories from. If they chose the blue book, it was their own choice and he could feel reasonably secure he was not offending anyone.

The blue, innuendo type of humour did not transfer to radio or cinema at that time, but eventually and progressively it began to filter through from the late 1950s and 1960s. Particularly significant in this respect were the Carry On films and the BBC radio series Round the Horne, although this humour is carried because of the apparent "nonsense" language that the protagonists use but in fact are having a "rude" conversation in Polari (gay slang). Spike Milligan, writer of The Goon Show, has remarked that a lot of blue innuendo came from servicemen's jokes, which were understood by most of the cast (who had all served as enlisted soldiers) and many of the audience, but which would pass over the heads of most of the BBC producers and directors, who were mostly "Officer class."

In 1968, the office of the Lord Chamberlain ceased to have responsibility for censoring live entertainment. By the 1970s innuendo had become widely pervasive across much of the British media.

References

See also

• Albur
• Doublespeak
• Euphemism
• Pun
• Spoonerism
• Triple entendre
• Wordplay