History Main / DoubleMeaning

* In Anime/TimeOfEve, a character is asked why she frequents an establishment where revealing whether one is a human or an android is not allowed. Her answer is carefully ambiguous enough to work whether she is a human or an android.

* In ''WesternAnimation/CentralPark'', Season 1 "[[Recap/CentralParkS1E3HatLuncheon Hat Luncheon]]", when Helen meets a former maid named Lucy who inherited everything from her previous employer, Lucy gives Helen advice on waiting to inherit's Bitsy's fortune by telling her "Where there's a will, there's way", and then tells her to make sure she's in Bitsy's will. The phrase means to have determination to overcome a difficult obstacle, which Helen is going to need if she continues to be Bitsy's assistant, and if Bitsy has a will then there's a way to inherit everything from her. The double meaning is used again in Helen's VillainSong "If There's a Will".

* ''Theatre/WesterosAnAmericanMusical'': At some point, plans are made to use a hairnet to smuggle a small item into an event without the person actually wearing the hairnet being aware of it. As the female character meant to wear the hairnet recieves it at is asked to wear it at the event in question, the orchestrator of the smuggling says "That hairnet is meant to go over her head"; it can be read both as an idiosyncratic way of saying "on her head" and an allusion to the fact that the wearer must ''not'' know about the smuggled item.

* ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': A deliberate InUniverse version is when Hari Seldon admits during ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' that he created two Foundations at opposite ends of the galaxy; one at a [[MetalPoorPlanet remote backwater]] planet called Terminus, and the other at Star's End. During ''Literature/FoundationAndEmpire'', characters start trying to discover the location of the Second Foundation that Hari Seldon keeps mentioning. In ''Literature/SecondFoundation'', characters use "the other end of the galaxy" as a clue. Some are doing it spatially (i.e. a planet on the opposite edge of the galaxy), others temporally (i.e. Terminus was the last planet to be settled by that point; by that logic, the Second Foundation must be on the first planet — EarthThatWas). The real answer turns out to be Trantor, the former capital of The Empire as the socially opposite planet. Some of these were deliberately misled by the Second Foundation in order to maintain their secrecy. [[spoiler:Hari Seldon meant Trantor, which, was at the galactic core (at one end of the galactic arm which included most human worlds), and was the sociological opposite of Terminus (the centre of galactic business versus a remote backwater).]]

* The English dub of ''Anime/PokemonTheMovie2000'' has an ancient prophecy which states that if the balance between Articuno, Zapdos, and Moltres is disrupted, "The earth shall turn to Ash". It is initially believed that the prophecy fortells TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt, but the heroes realize that there is [[ProphecyTwist another way the prophecy could be interpreted]]: that if the world was imperiled, it would turn to someone named Ash for salvation -- someone like [[TheChosenOne Ash Ketchum]].

* ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': A deliberate InUniverse version is when Hari Seldon admits during ''Literature/{{Foundation}}'' that he created two Foundations at opposite ends of the galaxy; one at a [[MetalPoorPlanet remote backwater]] planet called Terminus, and the other at Star's End. During ''Literature/FoundationAndEmpire'', characters start trying to discover the location of the Second Foundation that Hari Seldon keeps mentioning. In ''Literature/SecondFoundation'', characters use "the other end of the galaxy" as a clue. Some are doing it spatially (i.e. a planet on the opposite edge of the galaxy), others temporally (i.e. Terminus was the last planet to be settled by that point; by that logic, the Second Foundation must be on the first planet — EarthThatWas). The real answer turns out to be Trantor, the former capital of The Empire as the socially opposite planet. Some of these were deliberately misled by the Second Foundation in order to maintain their secrecy. [[spoiler:Hari Seldon meant Trantor, whose [[IstanbulNotConstantinople archaic name was Star's End]], was at the galactic core (in a spiral, the opposite ends are the centre and the edge), and was the sociological opposite of Terminus (the centre of galactic business versus a remote backwater).]]

* ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': A deliberate InUniverse version is when Hari Seldon admits during ''Literature/Foundation1951'' that he created two Foundations at opposite ends of the galaxy; one at a [[MetalPoorPlanet remote backwater]] planet called Terminus, and the other at Star's End. During ''Literature/FoundationAndEmpire'', characters start trying to discover the location of the Second Foundation that Hari Seldon keeps mentioning. In ''Literature/SecondFoundation'', characters use "the other end of the galaxy" as a clue. Some are doing it spatially (i.e. a planet on the opposite edge of the galaxy), others temporally (i.e. Terminus was the last planet to be settled by that point; by that logic, the Second Foundation must be on the first planet — EarthThatWas). The real answer turns out to be Trantor, the former capital of The Empire as the socially opposite planet. Some of these were deliberately misled by the Second Foundation in order to maintain their secrecy. [[spoiler:Hari Seldon meant Trantor, whose [[IstanbulNotConstantinople archaic name was Star's End]], was at the galactic core (in a spiral, the opposite ends are the centre and the edge), and was the sociological opposite of Terminus (the centre of galactic business versus a remote backwater).]]

[[folder:Films -- Animation]]
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Brave}}'', to undo a spell, the witch tells Merida that she and her mother must mend what was torn by pride. Merida assumes this means a tapestry she slashed open during a fight between her and her mother; however, it's left ambiguous whether the witch really meant the tapestry or the relationship between Merida and her mother.

* The image of a blue-and-yellow-striped tiger became this in WW2 Sweden, although less to ''conceal'' a message than to make it more memorable -- the phrase "En Svensk Tiger" can mean either "A Swedish Tiger" or "A Swede Keeps Silent", so a tiger in the colours of Sweden was used in loose-lips-sink-ships campaigns.

* Chapter 4 of "[[https://www.fanfiction.net/s/13189099/1/The-Legend-Of-Zelda-Ocarina-Of-Time The Legend Of Zelda: Ocarina Of Time]]" is titled "Torn Apart". The way the author names his chapters is by naming them after a phrase in that chapter. The way "Torn Apart" is mentioned in this chapter is when the Great Deku Tree is dying and Link's heart is metaphorically "torn apart". However, it may also be a reference to [[HalfTheManHeUsedToBe how Gohma died just moments before]].

* ''Literature/TheFoundationTrilogy'': A deliberate InUniverse version is when Hari Seldon admits during ''Literature/Foundation1951'' that he created two Foundations at opposite ends of the galaxy; one at a [[MetalPoorPlanet remote backwater]] planet called Terminus, and the other at Star's End. During ''Literature/FoundationAndEmpire'', characters start trying to discover the location of the Second Foundation that Hari Seldon keeps mentioning. In ''Literature/SecondFoundation'', characters use "the other end of the galaxy" as a clue. Some are doing it spatially (i.e. a planet on the opposite edge of the galaxy), others temporally (i.e. Terminus was the last planet to be settled by that point; by that logic, the Second Foundation must be on the first planet — EarthThatWas). The real answer turns out to be Trantor, the former capital of The Empire as the socially opposite planet. Some of these were deliberately misled by the Second Foundation in order to maintain their secrecy. [[spoiler:Hari Seldon meant Trantor, whose [[IstanbulNotConstantinople archaic name was Star's End]], was at the galactic core (in a spiral, the opposite ends are the centre and the edge), and was the sociological opposite of Terminus (the centre of galactic business versus a remote backwater).]]

* In a twist, in Tara's song, "Under Your Spell", in the ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'' episode "[[MusicalEpisode Once More with Feeling]]", the metaphorical meaning is the more obvious and positive one, about how much she loves Willow, and Willow has brought her out of her shell and introduced her to happiness. However, if the lyrics are taken completely literally, they're about how Willow has been magically manipulating Tara's mind and memories.

* ''VideoGame/CivilizationVI'': The French leader, Catherine de Medici, is a master of espionage. On first greeting the player in a game, she remarks 'I do so look forward to learning everything there is to know about you'.

* ''VideoGame/{{Civilisation}} VI'': The French leader, Catherine de Medici, is a master of espionage. On first greeting the player in a game, she remarks 'I do so look forward to learning everything there is to know about you'.

* In ''Film/JasonAndTheArgonauts'', Jason tells a camp's general that he is visiting Thessaly to reclaim his rightful throne from Pelias, who had [[TheUsurper usurped]] it twenty years before. The general tells Jason, "When your father defended his throne, no man fought harder than I." Of course, the general is [[KingIncognito secretly Pelias himself]], so the second meaning is, in a sense, "truer" than the seemingly straightforward one (he fought hard enough to ''win'', after all).

* ''Film/TheAvengers2012'': The Other tells Thanos that to fight Humans would be "to court death" (a common phrase meaning incredibly dangerous. Fans of the comics know [[spoiler: that Thanos literally wants to date the incarnation of Death.]]

* In the ''Literature/LeftBehind'' books, after Carpathia's resurrection, the standard greeting becomes "He is risen," with the response being "he is risen indeed": the "he" refers to Carpathia. The Christians reclaim the greeting (since it was originally the Paschal greeting), placing a slight emphasis on the "he" to indicate that they are referring to Jesus instead of Carpathia. This allows the Christians to interact with the rest of the world without drawing suspicion to themselves, while at the same time not violating their beliefs.

* In [[Literature/TheDresdenFiles Turn Coat]], Harry fought a [[EldritchAbomination Skinwalker]] when the [[TheFairFolk pixie]] Toot-Toothad a [[BigDamnHeroes Little Damn Heroes]] moment by attacking the skinwalker to give him a moment to recover. After one of the Senior Council gave him assistance and drove it away, he commented about Toot Toot throwing himself into danger to help him commenting, "Little guy like that, taking on something so far out his weight class. That was a sight to see.", but he was also commenting about Dresden as well.

* A possibly unintentional one in ''Literature/AGameOfThrones'': Jorah's last reply could equally well mean "Alright, let's drop the subject," or "You, too, will be dead one day."
--> '''Jorah:''' The Dothraki claim that someday ghost grass will cover the entire world, and then all life will end.
--> '''Dany:''' I don’t want to talk about that now. It's so beautiful here, I don't want to think about everything dying.
--> '''Jorah:''' As you will, Khaleesi.

[[folder:Theater]]