Thursday May 3, 2007
Double-cross and doublespeak
LOGOMANIA: By ELLEN WHYTE
DOUBLES suggest partnerships such as tennis partners, extra bounty as in doubling of profits, and also duplicity or cheating. With such a rich variety of meanings, it’s no wonder that this word forms part of many colourful expressions.
At/on the double
At a run; very fast.
This phrase comes from the military march. While precedents can vary from country to country, many follow UK standards. Of the best known marches are Quick March that demands 120 steps a minute with a 30-inch stride.
The Double March that gave rise to the expression at the double or on the double is a fast trot of 180 steps per minute that’s designed to move troops across territory at twice the rate of the Quick March but without exhausting the troops.
Example: When the cat was caught stealing the cream, he disappeared at the double.
Double-cross
To swindle, cheat or betray someone you are supposed to work with.
This phrase comes from horse racing, a sport that is notorious for its cheats. It refers to riders who are paid by bookmakers to cross or lose the race, and then go on to win.
The expression to cross was popular by 1834, but the idea of the double-cross where the cheat cheats the cheater dates from 1870.
Example: The bank robbers talked Arnold into helping them rob the bank, and then double-crossed him. Arnold never got a penny of his share.
Double-dealer
A traitor, backstabber, or hypocrite.
While the noun is going out of fashion, the related verb double-dealing remains popular. Some believe this image has its roots in the 14th century when playing cards were introduced and swindlers who manipulated the deck first appeared.
Others point to the expression’s Latin root duplus meaning two and note that when the word double-dealing was first used in print in 1529, it was used in the context of a hypocrite without any reference to games of chance.
Example: Eric seems helpful but the truth is that he’s a double-dealing snake.
Double entendre
An ambiguity; usually where one meaning is unexceptional and the other bawdy.
Dating from 1673 and taken directly from French where entendre meant to hear or mean, the double entendre is the basis for bedroom farces, pantomimes, chat-up lines, and other bawdy humour.
English speakers have kept the phrase alive for more than 400 years but the French dropped it in favour of double entente meaning two intentions.
Example: The classic double entendre is the Bellamy Brothers’ song ‘If I Said You Had a Beautiful Body, Would You Hold It Against Me’?
Double whammy
A combination of two disasters striking one after the other.
The word wham fist appeared in the 1920s as an onomatopoeic word for a blow. By the 1940s, the term whammy was defined in dictionaries as an evil influence.
The term double whammy was popularised in 1951 in Li’l Abner, a comic strip by Al Capp that featured a clan of hillbillies. The strip ran from 1934 to 1977, boasted 70 million readers, and became part of US popular culture.
Example: Increased property and personal taxes mean a double whammy for house owners.
Doublethink
To accept two contradictory beliefs simultaneously.
This expression was coined by George Orwell in his novel 1984, published in 1949. The book describes the life of Winston Smith, a bureaucrat in the Ministry of Truth who falsifies history on a daily basis so that the politicians in charge are always right. As Winston keeps remembering what really happened, and knows he’ll be killed if he lets on that he does, he learns to believe all sorts of contradictory “truths” at the same time.
Example: A master of doublethink, Gerald believes that all women are stupid, and also that women are the world’s most cunning and devious conspirators.
Doublespeak
Deceptive language; statements that misrepresent the truth.
While newspeak and oldspeak appear in 1984, and the novel may have inspired the term, doublespeak wasn’t coined until 1952.
Doublespeak is most often associated with politicians, people who take political correctness to extremes, and managers trying to disguise bad news.
Popular doublespeak includes rightsizing instead of firing employees and transfer tubes instead of body bags.
Example: Dilbert cartoons will teach you all you need to know about standard management doublespeak.
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