Double entendre
A double entendre or innuendo is a figure of speech similar to the pun, in which a spoken phrase can be understood in either of two ways. The first, literal meaning is an innocent one, while the second meaning is often risqué and requires the hearer to have some additional knowledge. Although a French term, the French generally say double entente or double sens for such phrases.
Scholars of the Bible have suggested that the prologue to the Gospel of John in which Jesus is called "the Word" (λογος, Logos in Greek) makes creative use of a double entendre to communicate to both Jews and Hellenists, especially followers of Philo. Each of these two people groups had its own history associated with the concept of the Logos, and each could understand John's use of the term from one or both of those contexts.
Most double entendres in popular usage are sexual in nature. The following sentence illustrates, "A woman walked into a bar and asked for a double entendre, so the barman gave her one." The sentence could mean either that the barman gave her an example, or that he had sexual intercourse with her.
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 due to the fact that 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 to most adult viewers.
In the British comic book Viz there runs a cartoon strip entitled "Finbarr Saunders and his Double Entendres", about a youngster who enjoys double entendres. Immediately after hearing someone crack a double entendre, Finbarr knowingly sniggers "Fnarr fnarr!". "Fnarr" has since become a popular exclamation in the UK.
Similarly, the cartoon characters Beavis and Butt-head frequently note double entendres of the most trivial kind, based on single words with sexual meaning. In one incident, a ranger's voiceover at a petrified forest exhibit says "You're probably wondering: How could wood get so hard?"; the two respond "huh-huh, he said wood; huh-huh".
Double entendres are also used in a particular episode of the popular animation show King of the Hill. When the new employee, Rich, at Strickland Propane constantly makes jokes at Hank Hill's expense, Hank considers a sexual harassment lawsuit. One of the situations is the Hank saying, "I need an 8 inch L pipe" and Rich exclaiming in response, "That's what she said". In this situation, Rich is taking a seemingly innocent remark and changing it into a comment a woman might make in sexual context. Another example is Hank saying to Buck Strickland, "I'm glad you're behind me" and Rich again saying "That's what she said"
Another classic double entendre is the title of The Bellamy Brothers' song If I said you had a beautiful body, would you hold it against me?, "it" referring to either the statement or the body in question.
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." A child might find this statement funny simply because of the references to her pussy cat, whereas an adult would detect the innuendo (pussy is sexual slang for vagina).
Innuendos were not only used in modern times — they have existed since Shakespearean times. 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."
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.
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 decency.
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 wasn't offending anyone.
The blue, innuendo type of humour didn't transfer onto radio or cinema at that time, but did eventually filter through from the late 1950s and 60s. In 1968 the office of the Lord Chamberlain ceased to have responsibility for censoring live entertainment. By the 1970s, innuendo had become standard.