The
Demi-entendre
site
It could play a factor....
View the demi-entendre collection!
We've currently got over 75 demi-entendres for your amusement and edification.
View a random demi-entendre!
Demi-entendre, qu'est-ce que c'est?
A demi-entendre is an expression or phrase that comes from accidentally combining two common expressions...
...like this:
Things took a change for the worse.
That phrase comes from two common phrases:
- Things took a turn for the worse.
- Things changed for the worse.
Demi-entendres are very common: in conversation, in books, in commercials and the news. What is it about our brains that makes us merge two phrases into one? We don't know! But the results are very amusing.
Welcome from your hosts
The Demi-entendre site is brought to you by David A. Black and Barbara A. Black, a son and mother team of word-play devotees who started noticing these usages several years ago and applied the term "demi-entendre" to them. The site is maintained by David. We get the demi-entendres from each other, relatives, friends... whoever wants to contribute one!
Demi-entendre news!
The common demi-entendre "step foot" into a room (step plus set foot) was just heard in the 1942 movie "This Time For Keeps". Interesting to find how long some of these have been around.
Unfortunately the PDF document linked below is no longer there. But we're keeping the news item since it was so cool when it happened!
The Beavercreek, OH, City School District has included the term demi-entendre in its list of Rhetorical, Literary, and Grammatical Terms for high-school students, including an example and quotation from this site! (The quotation is from an old version of the site, but it's still us.) Check out #49 on the chart!