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Double Speak
- 162 statements
- 29 feature instances
- 41 referencing feature instances
| Double Speak | type |
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| Double Speak | label |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak | page |
DoubleSpeak | |
| Double Speak | comment |
Users call them polite euphemisms, but detractors call them "spin" or "weasel words". They are used by Corrupt Corporate Executives, Sleazy Politicians, the Amoral Attorney, Obstructive Bureaucrats, insurance salesmen, Weird Trade Unions or spies and The Don, especially for their targets, actions or gathering places like the Legitimate Businessmen's Social Club. Not an Unusual Euphemism. Subtrope of Double Meaning. Compare Never Say "Die", Deadly Euphemism, Distinction Without a Difference or Super-Fun Happy Thing of Doom. For cases where a character must speak to two different people at once to convey different information, see Multitasked Conversation. |
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| Double Speak | fetched |
2023-08-09T05:45:08Z | |
| Double Speak | parsed |
2023-08-09T05:45:08Z | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to ANaziByAnyOtherName: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to AffablyEvil: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to CorruptCorporateExecutive: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to DeadlyEuphemism: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to Parodied: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to PointyHairedBoss: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to ReadTheFinePrint: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to RealLife: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to ShoutOut: Not an Item - FEATURE | |
| Double Speak | processingComment |
Dropped link to TruthInTelevision: Not an Item - CAT | |
| Double Speak | isPartOf |
DBTropes | |
| Double Speak / int_2196de57 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_2196de57 | comment |
Also parodied in a Treehouse of Horror episode, where, in a Strangers on a Train parody, Bart and Lisa agree to "prank" each others' teachers, and "ding-dong-ditch" them. Of course, by prank Bart means kill, and by ding-dong-ditch he means throw the ding-dong in a ditch. | |
| Double Speak / int_2196de57 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_2196de57 | featureConfidence |
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| Treehouse of Horror | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_2196de57 | |
| Double Speak / int_261c8d3f | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_261c8d3f | comment |
The Simpsons: Parodied with future president Lisa's "temporary refund adjustment," which Bart inadvertently reveals on national TV to be a tax hike; nobody could figure it out otherwise. Also parodied in a Treehouse of Horror episode, where, in a Strangers on a Train parody, Bart and Lisa agree to "prank" each others' teachers, and "ding-dong-ditch" them. Of course, by prank Bart means kill, and by ding-dong-ditch he means throw the ding-dong in a ditch. In season 18 episode "The mook, the chef, the wife and her Homer" Fat Tony considers hot-syncing his palm pilot. Louie thinks it's doublespeak and shoots the palm pilot. |
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| Double Speak / int_261c8d3f | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_261c8d3f | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Simpsons | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_261c8d3f | |
| Double Speak / int_3967082a | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_3967082a | comment |
In The Road to Cydonia the secret agency places martial artists in internment camps which they call "Sanctuary Communities". | |
| Double Speak / int_3967082a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_3967082a | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Road to Cydonia (Fanfic) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_3967082a | |
| Double Speak / int_3f4a104b | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_3f4a104b | comment |
Dilbert: Parodied in a strip where the Pointy-Haired Boss gives some employees the option to be re-purposed, re-organized, or re-assigned. The final panel has Catbert asking him how many people volunteered to be fired without knowing it. In another strip, the PHB tells a worker his job was re-considered, that he was put in the mobility pool, etc. The worker irritates the PHB by not getting it. In one of the books, Adams extrapolated from the then-current "rightsized" to the future "happysized", "splendidsized", and "orgasmsized". |
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| Double Speak / int_3f4a104b | featureConfidence |
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| Dilbert (Comic Strip) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_3f4a104b | |
| Double Speak / int_468bebb0 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_468bebb0 | comment |
Discworld: For both the Assassin's Guild of the series and the Torturer's Guild of The Book Of The New Sun, victims are referred to as "clients". The Assassin's Guild also refers to contracts as "commissions" (possibly due to their view of their work being artistic in nature). And they prefer to say "inhume" rather than kill. "...It's like exhume... only it's before they bury you." The Seamstresses' Guild in the same Discworld, which only has one actual seamstress (this was a real euphemism used by sex workers). Of course, that's not a euphemism for the victims, but rather, for the members. That is, the people who perform the service. Said seamstress was hired because some people just don't get euphemisms. Mentioned several times is the original guild of firefighters, disbanded because of their tendencies to stand around people's houses saying things like "looks like a very inflammable house there, it'd be shame if something happened to it". Which is almost Real Life, as is often the case with Prattchett: Marcus Licinius Crassus, who created the first Roman fire brigade, had his men start fires so that business was never slow. Subverted in The Truth. Vetinari says he wants no harm to come to Mr. De Worde, and his clerk thinks this is Doublespeak, but no, he literally wants no harm to come to Mr. De Worde. |
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| Double Speak / int_468bebb0 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Double Speak / int_468bebb0 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Discworld | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_468bebb0 | |
| Double Speak / int_5a077317 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_5a077317 | comment |
In Sons of Anarchy, the characters refer to murder as "meeting Mr. Mayhem." | |
| Double Speak / int_5a077317 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_5a077317 | featureConfidence |
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| Sons of Anarchy | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_5a077317 | |
| Double Speak / int_5cd1aa89 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_5cd1aa89 | comment |
1984 is one of the Ur-Examples. While not actually a Trope Namer—the phrase "Doublespeak" does not appear in the novel, though "doublethink" does (albeit with no relation)—it certainly brought the idea of using euphemisms to a new height. The Ministry of Peace is in charge of war; the Ministry of Truth is in charge of propaganda; the Ministry of Plenty is in charge of rationing; and the Ministry of Love is in charge of maintaining a climate of fear.note Orwell expanded his thoughts on this in his essay "Politics and the English Language", where he claimed that euphemisms and flowery language was a way for people to hide bad intentions and legitimize immoral actions. | |
| Double Speak / int_5cd1aa89 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_5cd1aa89 | featureConfidence |
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| Nineteen Eighty-Four | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_5cd1aa89 | |
| Double Speak / int_740c24aa | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_740c24aa | comment |
In the Greek play Agamemnon, many of Clytemnestra's speeches are filled with double meanings. | |
| Double Speak / int_740c24aa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_740c24aa | featureConfidence |
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| Agamemnon (Theatre) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_740c24aa | |
| Double Speak / int_7c48915b | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_7c48915b | comment |
Gunnerkrigg Court: With the Guides' talk of "a most disfortunate accident" and being "taken right away", Young Annie has to figure out by herself that the boy who "lost his way" is actually dead. One bit of dialogue suggests this deception was unintentional: | |
| Double Speak / int_7c48915b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_7c48915b | featureConfidence |
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| Gunnerkrigg Court (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_7c48915b | |
| Double Speak / int_7c802b66 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_7c802b66 | comment |
Brazil has its dystopian government having an "information retrieval" division. We would call information retrieval Cold-Blooded Torture and the employees of the department Torture Technicians. | |
| Double Speak / int_7c802b66 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_7c802b66 | featureConfidence |
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| Brazil | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_7c802b66 | |
| Double Speak / int_7fc78282 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_7fc78282 | comment |
Saruman in The Lord of the Rings is a prominent example, and the only one in this particular book. Gimli even lampshades it early on, after hearing him rebuke Théoden. | |
| Double Speak / int_7fc78282 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_7fc78282 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Lord of the Rings | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_7fc78282 | |
| Double Speak / int_882f1fdb | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_882f1fdb | comment |
The Bugs Bunny cartoon "Slick Hare" and the Heckle and Jeckle cartoon "Flying South" each play the "having you for dinner" invite only for it to mean they're the dinner. | |
| Double Speak / int_882f1fdb | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_882f1fdb | featureConfidence |
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| Bugs Bunny | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_882f1fdb | |
| Double Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | comment |
Kim Possible: When Shego proposes to infiltrate Jack Hench's research facility to "find some free samples", Drakken scoffs that Hench never gives out free anything, then realizes that she actually means stealing something. | |
| Double Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | featureConfidence |
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| Kim Possible | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_90a3a7f4 | |
| Double Speak / int_90c73dda | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_90c73dda | comment |
In Animorphs, at the end of the series, the Andalites reveal that every time the kids begged for help, they thought that they were lying to get special attention. Jake gives a little doublespeak-laden speech to the Andalite HQ, telling them to shove it up their asses in the most polite way possible, with Marco giving the translations to what is actually being said in first-person narrative. | |
| Double Speak / int_90c73dda | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_90c73dda | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| Animorphs | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_90c73dda | |
| Double Speak / int_9d34190a | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_9d34190a | comment |
The Elder Scrolls: In Morrowind, the Morag Tong is a legal assassin's guild which is sanctioned by the Dunmeri government as an alternative to destructive Allowed Internal Wars between the Great Houses which weaken the Dunmer overall. As such, the Morag Tong insists that they do not commit "murders" or even "assassinations", they perform Honorable Executions. However, given that they are the high-class, honorable Professional Killers in contrast to the gangly, thuggish Cammona Tong and the treacherous Dark Brotherhood, they do manage to keep a higher moral ground (and technically, the Morag Tong do not usually "murder" — they're legally allowed to pursue their Writs of Execution, as a flip side to the strict restrictions on who and when writs can be granted for, though they do sometimes dabble in illegal writs known as "Gray Writs"). In one quest from Skyrim, a note to a Thalmor interrogator authorizes him to use "Intermediate Manual Uncoiling" on a prisoner. You later get to see exactly what that means. The scariest part of this is that the word "Intermediate" implies it could be worse. |
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| Double Speak / int_9d34190a | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_9d34190a | featureConfidence |
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| The Elder Scrolls (Franchise) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_9d34190a | |
| Double Speak / int_a656a587 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_a656a587 | comment |
Subverted in The Truth. Vetinari says he wants no harm to come to Mr. De Worde, and his clerk thinks this is Doublespeak, but no, he literally wants no harm to come to Mr. De Worde. | |
| Double Speak / int_a656a587 | featureApplicability |
-0.3 | |
| Double Speak / int_a656a587 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Truth | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_a656a587 | |
| Double Speak / int_a9830146 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_a9830146 | comment |
In Terinu, the Varn Dominion, which conquered Earth 500 years previously in the comic's backstory, employed the "Department of Social Harmony" as its propaganda and secret police division among its population of servitors. | |
| Double Speak / int_a9830146 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_a9830146 | featureConfidence |
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| Terinu (Webcomic) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_a9830146 | |
| Double Speak / int_ad6b641b | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_ad6b641b | comment |
In The Screwtape Letters, the humans that the demons are attempting to damn are referred to as "patients". | |
| Double Speak / int_ad6b641b | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_ad6b641b | featureConfidence |
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| The Screwtape Letters | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_ad6b641b | |
| Double Speak / int_b1cbc51 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_b1cbc51 | comment |
Frank Nitti in The Untouchables (1987) uses the above line to threaten Eliot Ness. | |
| Double Speak / int_b1cbc51 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_b1cbc51 | featureConfidence |
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| The Untouchables (1987) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_b1cbc51 | |
| Double Speak / int_b21cd2c3 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_b21cd2c3 | comment |
Centuries before Orwell, The Faerie Queene says that Ate "double-spake" through her two tongues, never meaning just one thing, but always having two things in her divided mind. | |
| Double Speak / int_b21cd2c3 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_b21cd2c3 | featureConfidence |
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| The Faerie Queene | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_b21cd2c3 | |
| Double Speak / int_b30ae4db | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_b30ae4db | comment |
Game of Thrones: "I haven't shown you the hospitality you deserve. My king has married and I owe my new queen a wedding gift." | |
| Double Speak / int_b30ae4db | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_b30ae4db | featureConfidence |
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| Game of Thrones | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_b30ae4db | |
| Double Speak / int_b5a2b326 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_b5a2b326 | comment |
In Morrowind, the Morag Tong is a legal assassin's guild which is sanctioned by the Dunmeri government as an alternative to destructive Allowed Internal Wars between the Great Houses which weaken the Dunmer overall. As such, the Morag Tong insists that they do not commit "murders" or even "assassinations", they perform Honorable Executions. However, given that they are the high-class, honorable Professional Killers in contrast to the gangly, thuggish Cammona Tong and the treacherous Dark Brotherhood, they do manage to keep a higher moral ground (and technically, the Morag Tong do not usually "murder" — they're legally allowed to pursue their Writs of Execution, as a flip side to the strict restrictions on who and when writs can be granted for, though they do sometimes dabble in illegal writs known as "Gray Writs"). | |
| Double Speak / int_b5a2b326 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_b5a2b326 | featureConfidence |
1.0 | |
| The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_b5a2b326 | |
| Double Speak / int_d4f9ccf | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_d4f9ccf | comment |
Jafar in Aladdin wants the guards to "extend him (Aladdin) an invitation to the palace." Obviously, he means throw him in the dungeon so that Jafar can use him to get the lamp. | |
| Double Speak / int_d4f9ccf | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_d4f9ccf | featureConfidence |
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| Aladdin | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_d4f9ccf | |
| Double Speak / int_d532f73 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_d532f73 | comment |
In Christian Nation, Fox News is rebranded as Fox Faith & Freedom News, serving as a Propaganda Machine for the increasingly restrictive new American theocracy. | |
| Double Speak / int_d532f73 | featureApplicability |
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| Double Speak / int_d532f73 | featureConfidence |
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| Christian Nation | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_d532f73 | |
| Double Speak / int_dab32e3 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_dab32e3 | comment |
The Maverick Hunters from the Mega Man X games refer to their work as "retiring" the mavericks. Which is extraordinarily likely to be a translator's Shout-Out to the identical euphemism in Blade Runner. | |
| Double Speak / int_dab32e3 | featureApplicability |
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| Double Speak / int_dab32e3 | featureConfidence |
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| Mega Man X (Video Game) | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_dab32e3 | |
| Double Speak / int_ddb3dcfa | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_ddb3dcfa | comment |
Sinjir in Star Wars: Aftermath was a Loyalty Officer for the Galactic Empire. His job was actually about weeding out disloyalty, by torturing and killing those alleged to be disloyal, rather than about encouraging actual loyalty. | |
| Double Speak / int_ddb3dcfa | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_ddb3dcfa | featureConfidence |
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| Star Wars: Aftermath | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_ddb3dcfa | |
| Double Speak / int_e951212 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_e951212 | comment |
In Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues, Daigo plans to use his vampiric superpower to mutate someone into a lizard monster. Devin then suggests driving around to the lower-class neighbourhood and grabbing a poor person to be their test subject. When he's criticised for 'using' poor people, he rephrases it as 'offering them an alternative' to their difficult life. | |
| Double Speak / int_e951212 | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_e951212 | featureConfidence |
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| Dawn of a New Age: Oldport Blues / Role Play | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_e951212 | |
| Double Speak / int_ea15127e | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_ea15127e | comment |
Léon the assassin in The Professional refers to himself as a "cleaner". Mathilda sees right through his words and asks him to teach her to "clean" also. | |
| Double Speak / int_ea15127e | featureApplicability |
1.0 | |
| Double Speak / int_ea15127e | featureConfidence |
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| The Professional | hasFeature |
Double Speak / int_ea15127e | |
| Double Speak / int_f74b5f80 | type |
Double Speak | |
| Double Speak / int_f74b5f80 | comment |
Babylon 5: All the expeditions that were sent by Earth to Vorlon space disappeared. The Vorlons said that they had met with accidents and suggested they send no more expeditions into their territory. Taken more seriously, and as a Shout-Out to Nineteen Eighty-Four, when Earth enters a particularly fascistic period and institues a Ministry of Peace and a Ministry of Truth. They also have a Suspiciously Similar Substitute of the Nazi SA in their "Night Watch", who arrest and dissappear innocents for not showing proper loyalty. |
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Double Speak / int_f74b5f80 |
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