Whats the purpose of a double entendre?
A double entendre is a phrase that has two meanings… two senses. Generally, it is used to express one thing implicitly, indirectly (usually an insult, or a suggestion that someone has been behaving immorally, but it could also itself be an immoral proposition), while explicitly saying something quite benign. “Entendre” means ‘to hear’ in French, thus double entendre would mean to hear something in two ways (‘to double hear’). Someone might want to use a double entendre when insulting someone (as I have said), especially when that insult might lead to a fight that the person knows he/or she is unlikely to win… or is likely to get badly hurt in. With a double entendre, even if the other person suspects an insult, the speaker could always say “no, no… I didn’t mean that (the insult) at all.” One might also do this if making an outright insult would be considered ‘rude’… typically Shakespearean behavior. Likewise, if saying outright that a lady has been acting irreputably (un-“lady
