History Main / DoubleMeaningTitle

[[AC:Western Animation]]

----
<<|TitleTropes|>>

* All of the DresdenFiles novels, notably ''Grave Peril'', ''Summer Knight'', ''Blood Rites'',''White Night'', and ''Dead Beat'' .

* ''{{Mai-HiME}}'' is a '''quintuple''' pun, meaning "Mai the [=HiMe=]", "My [=HiMe=]", "My princess", 'Mai the princess" and "Maihime" (a kind of dance).

* The French film ''Metisse'' (derived from mixticius, meaning mixed) was called ''Cafe Au Lait'' in the US as a DoubleMeaningPun to the mixed race characters, mix of the characters races [[StarbucksSkinScale and the french style coffees they all drank]].

* ''MuchAdoAboutNothing'' follows the standard Shakespearean comedy convention of having a self-deprecating title. Additionally, [[GetTheeToANunnery in Shakespeare's day]], "nothing" was a double-entendre for female genitalia, and a major part of the plot deals with Hero's virginity.
** Also a play on words with a popular expression at the time "much ado about ''noting''," which applied to eavesdropping. Much of the play is driven by overheard (and misinterpreted) gossip.

* Another ''StarTrek'' example: The Diane Duane TOS novel ''Doctor's Orders'', in which Dr. McCoy is left in command of the ''Enterprise'', the double meaning being that McCoy is a doctor and in command (thus giving orders), and the phrase "doctor's orders" which describes a doctor's instructions to his patients.

* A meta-example is found in the StargateAtlantis episode "Grace Under Pressure." The obvious meaning of the title refers to McKay staying focused and calm while under both the literal pressure of the water over his submerged jumper and the mental pressure of figuring a way out his situation. The title is also a reference to the StargateSG1 episode "Grace" where an alone and concussed Sam Carter hallucinates other characters to help her out of a dangerous situation. Guess who McKay hallucinates...

* In ''BGataHKei'', (''B type, H style''), B stands for the main character's B blood type, and B cup breast size. (Coincidentially, by our classification, she is also a Type B {{Tsundere}}.)

* A meta-example is found in the StargateAtlantis episode "Grace Under Pressure." The obvious meaning of the title refers to McKay staying focused and calm while under both the literal pressure of the water over his submerged jumper and the mental pressure of figuring out his situation. The title is also a reference to the StargateSG1 episode "Grace" where an alone and concussed Sam Carter hallucinates other characters to help her out of her situation. Guess who McKay hallucinates...

* Ian[=McEwan=]'s ''Enduring Love'' could just mean a love that lasts (most people just assume this is the meaning), but it has a second meaning: tolerating love or putting up with love.

* IanMcEwan's ''Enduring Love'' could just mean a love that lasts (most people just assume this is the meaning), but it has a second meaning: tolerating love or putting up with love.

[[AC:Anime and Manga]]

* ''Tenchi Muyo!'' can mean "[[EpunymousTitle No Need For Tenchi!]]", "No Need For Heaven and Earth!", or "This Way Up!", depending on the interpretation.

[[AC:{{ComicBooks}}]]

* {{Watchmen}}. The phrase "Who watches the watchmen?" can be translated from the original Latin ("Quis custodiet ipsos custodes?") as "who guards the guards?" implying that the superheroes themselves are under attack. But it can also refer to those who watch, implying that someone else is watching them. Alternately, it can be interpreted as "who polices the police?", referring to the fact that the "heroes" [[{{Deconstruction}} aren't really as heroic as they should be]].

** The [[Discworld/TheFifthElephant Fifth Elephant]] refers to an old legend about [[CaptainObvious a fifth elephant]] that used to support the Disc, but which slipped off and crashed down on the flat world in the distant past. It's also an {{Uberwald}}ian expression that can variously mean "that which does not exist," "that which is not what it seems," and "that which while unseen controls events." ''All'' of these interpretations come into play over the course of the novel.

** In the Coruscant Nights Trilogy, one book is Patterns of Force. In that title, Force means [[TheForce what it usually means in Star Wars]] as well as what it means pretty much everywhere else.

* The ''Star Trek'' short story "Empathy", featuring the MirrorUniverse versions of the ''Titan'' crew. The title refers to the gestalt between the lifeforms of Lru-Irr, which the Alliance wants to exploit. It also refers to Ian Troi and Tuvok's determination to save the Irriol from the Alliance and Bajoran scientist Jaza Najem's own incresing empathy for the Irriol, combined with the love he shares with Terran slave Christine Vale. Perhaps more of a stretch, one of Troi's crew, the sociopathic William Riker, notably ''lacks'' any sort of empathy, possibly because he never met his captain's daughter.
* Another StarTrek example: The Diane Duane TOS novel ''Doctor's Orders'', in which Dr. McCoy is left in command of the ''Enterprise'', the double meaning being that McCoy is a doctor and in command (thus giving orders), and the phrase "doctor's orders" which describes a doctor's instructions to his patients.
* Not StarTrek, but Star Trek related: A book of poetry and prose written by an Assistant Director while working on Star Trek Voyager and Enterprise is named [[http://www.michaeldemeritt.com/ Poetry and Prose from the Director's Ass.]] Given a lot of the jobs an Assistant Director does, the title is fitting...

[[AC:LiveActionTV]]
* ''ArrestedDevelopment'' is about a land ''developer'' who is ''arrested'', and whose children suffer, in some way or another, from ''arrested development'' in the psychological sense. They also live in the demo house of a housing ''development'' that has been put on hold - ''arrested'', as it were.
* ''{{Scrubs}}'', a WorkCom that sometimes dips into {{dramedy}} territory about medical interns ("scrubs" referring to the clothing doctors wear on the job, as well as a slang term for new and inexperienced people).
** [[IThoughtItMeant The title has nothing to do with]] [[{{Scrub}} this trope]], however.
* ''JustShootMe!'', a sitcom about a woman who ends up with a miserable job at a fashion magazine ('shoot' being a synonym for 'taking a picture').
* ''TheGreenGreenGrass'': CityMouse moved to the countryside for his own protection after informing (or 'grassing') on some criminals.
* ''{{Grass}}'': Identical to the above, right down to the pun. But funnier.
* ''PressGang'': About a group of children who run a school newspaper, some of whom have been forced into doing the job as punishment for misbehaviour. The original treatment played on the pun even more, with two warring school gangs being forced to work together. However, this was toned down to two occasionally-sparring characters for the final show.
* ''[[LawAndOrderSpecialVictimsUnit Law & Order: Special Victims Unit]]'' usually has episode titles with double or even triple meanings. Which is sort of impressive, when you consider that all episodes since the second season have had one-word titles.
* The ''{{Leverage}}'' episode "The Bottle Job" is a BottleEpisode. They also describe the con they're running as "The Wire in a bottle". Finally, it's the episode where Nate falls OffTheWagon.
* ''{{Weeds}}'' is a sitcom about a marijuana dealing widowed soccer mom in the suburbs. "Weed" is a slang term for marijuana, can also refer to suburban housing developments springing up like weeds, and also refers to "widow's weeds".
* A number of ''{{Lost}}'' episode titles employ this. For instance, "Recon" could be short for "reconnaissance," or it could mean "con again." Also, the title of the series refers to the characters being spiritually as well as literally lost.

[[AC:Western Animation]]
* In Hong Kong, ''SouthPark'' was retitled as ''Nanfang Sijianke,'' or ''South Park's Four Slackers''; it also sounds an awful lot like ''The Four Musketeers.''

* The name DeusEx is both a commentary on typically weakly-structured FPS plots that often employed DeusExMachina, and also refers to the literal meaning of the phrase "god from the machine", since the story deals with DeusEstMachina.
* Perhaps a weak example, but the game ''does'' contain four different KnightsOfTheOldRepublic in the first and anywhere from two to six in the second.

<<|TitleTropes|>>

* Richard Connell's "The Most Dangerous Game" could refer to either the contest of pitting hunter vs. hunter or the hunting of humans. (The [[TheMostDangerousGame trope named after it]] is explicitly about hunting humans.)