Maybe Mae West Was On to Something... Using Double Entendres in Your Writing

Double Entendres

Double entendres can be great ways to liven up your writing or your speech. They can come in handy when you want to tell the truth but disguise it in seemingly harmless language.

From the French language, double entendre means double meaning or double intent.

Merriam-Webster defines double entendre this way:

1. ambiguity of meaning arising from language that lends itself to more than one interpretation
2. a word or expression capable of two interpretations with one usually risqué

Be Clever

Use double entendres in your writing for a clever touch. Double entendre examples show up in jokes every day. Here's a favorite one my dad used to tell:

Little Johnny was sitting in class minding his own business. The teacher asked the class to use the word "fascinate" in a sentence. Little Johnny stuck his hand up in the air, waving it furiously.

The teacher, always leery of little Johnny’s antics, didn't see the harm in letting Little Johnny share a sentence using the word "fascinate," so she said, "Yes, Little Johnny. Please use 'fascinate' in a sentence."

Little Johnny cleared his throat, sat up straight in his chair, and said, "My sister has a blouse with 12 buttons on it but her knockers are so big, she can only fascinate."

Mae West Used Double Entendres

Mae West was famous for her use of double entendres.

Here are a few of her famous quotes using this double meaning technique:

I used to be Snow White, but I drifted.

I'm the lady who works at Paramount all day... and Fox all night.

A hard man is good to find.

She's the kind of girl who climbed the ladder of success wrong by wrong.

I only have 'yes' men around me. Who needs 'no' men?

Mae West Quotes Source

Use Double Entendres to Be Polite

Here's another double entendre example:

Frank was looking for a new job. He didn't like the hard work at his old job and had quit. So Frank asked his former boss, Pete, to write a reference letter for him.

Frank had been a lazy worker, only doing his job of unloading the truck when Pete told him to get back to work. The problem was Frank was Pete's wife's nephew.

Pete thought about it then decided he could be truthful in his reference letter without offending his wife by saying something blatantly negative about her nephew.

In the reference letter, he wrote, "You'll be lucky to get Frank to work for you."

My Favorite Double Entendre

While I was growing up in southern Illinois, a nearby glass factory advertised their product on TV. Their message?

It's perfectly clear. Glass is better.

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