Innuendo
Encyclopedia
An innuendo is a baseless invention of thoughts or ideas. It can also be a remark or question, typically disparaging (also called insinuation), that works obliquely by allusion
. In the latter sense, the intention is often to insult
or accuse someone in such a way that one's words, taken literally, are innocent.
According to the Advanced Oxford Learner's Dictionary, an innuendo is "an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad, mean or rude; the use of remarks like this: innuendoes about her private life or The song is full of sexual innuendo." The word is often used to express disapproval.
The term sexual innuendo has acquired a specific meaning, namely that of a "risque" double entendre
by playing on a possibly sexual interpretation of an otherwise innocent uttering. For example: "We need to go deeper" can be seen as both a request for further inquiry on any given issue or a request to go deeper into an orifice. Alternatively the more simple changing the pronunciation of a word in order for it to sound vulgar e.g. innuendo to in-your-endo.
In the context of defamation law, an innuendo is the meaning borne by the form of words complained of.
Many primetime shows use an extensive amount of innuendo to the point that it is rated TV-PG/14 D for dialogue. Shows such as The Simpsons
, Futurama
, Son of the Beach
, The Office
, King of The Hill
, Regular Show
(2010) House
, Beavis and Butt-head
, Everybody Hates Chris
, George Lopez
, American Dad!
, Tosh.0
, and especially Family Guy
and South Park
have done this. British sitcoms, such as Are You Being Served, among others, have also done this.
Also, many radio shows, including The Gallo Radio Show, most of the songs played on Southern Crossroads, sometimes The Rick & Bubba Show
, The Steve and DC Morning Show
, especially The JT & Dave Show, Air Bubba and The Bob & Tom Show
are notable for this.
Allusion
An allusion is a figure of speech that makes a reference to, or representation of, people, places, events, literary work, myths, or works of art, either directly or by implication. M. H...
. In the latter sense, the intention is often to insult
Insult
An insult is an expression, statement which is considered degrading and offensive. Insults may be intentional or accidental...
or accuse someone in such a way that one's words, taken literally, are innocent.
According to the Advanced Oxford Learner's Dictionary, an innuendo is "an indirect remark about somebody or something, usually suggesting something bad, mean or rude; the use of remarks like this: innuendoes about her private life or The song is full of sexual innuendo." The word is often used to express disapproval.
The term sexual innuendo has acquired a specific meaning, namely that of a "risque" double entendre
Double entendre
A double entendre or adianoeta is a figure of speech in which a spoken phrase is devised to be understood in either of two ways. Often the first meaning is straightforward, while the second meaning is less so: often risqué or ironic....
by playing on a possibly sexual interpretation of an otherwise innocent uttering. For example: "We need to go deeper" can be seen as both a request for further inquiry on any given issue or a request to go deeper into an orifice. Alternatively the more simple changing the pronunciation of a word in order for it to sound vulgar e.g. innuendo to in-your-endo.
In the context of defamation law, an innuendo is the meaning borne by the form of words complained of.
Television and other media
Many television shows aimed at a younger audience frequently use innuendos as a way of attracting older viewers without offending their network's censorship. Shows such as:- Tom and JerryTom and JerryTom and Jerry are the cat and mouse cartoon characters that were evolved starting in 1939.Tom and Jerry also may refer to:Cartoon works featuring the cat and mouse so named:* The Tom and Jerry Show...
(1940) - The FlintstonesThe FlintstonesThe Flintstones is an animated, prime-time American television sitcom that screened from September 30, 1960 to April 1, 1966, on ABC. Produced by Hanna-Barbera Productions, The Flintstones was about a working class Stone Age man's life with his family and his next-door neighbor and best friend. It...
(1960) - Tiny Toon AdventuresTiny Toon AdventuresSteven Spielberg Presents Tiny Toon Adventures, usually referred to as Tiny Toon Adventures or simply Tiny Toons, is an American animated television series created by Tom Ruegger and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. It began production as a result of Warner Bros....
(1992) - Scooby Doo, Where Are You (1969)
- Top CatTop CatTop Cat is a Hanna-Barbera prime time animated television series which ran from September 27, 1961 to April 18, 1962 for a run of 30 episodes on the ABC network. Reruns are played on Cartoon Network's classic animation network Boomerang.-History:...
(1961) - Jimmy Two-ShoesJimmy Two-ShoesJimmy Two-Shoes is a Canadian/American animated television series. It airs on Disney XD in the United Kingdom and in the USA, and Teletoon in Canada...
(2009) quite frequently - MADMad (TV series)MAD is an American animated sketch comedy series created by Kevin Shinick and produced by Warner Bros. Animation. Based upon the magazine of the same name, each episode is a collection of short animated parodies of television shows, movies, games, celebrities and other media using various types of...
(2010) - Camp LazloCamp LazloCamp Lazlo is an American animated television series created by Joe Murray, produced by Rough Draft Studios, Joe Murray Productions and Cartoon Network Studios. It aired on Cartoon Network...
(2005) - The Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParentsThe Fairly OddParents is an American-Canadian animated television series created by Butch Hartman about the adventures of Timmy Turner, who is granted fairy godparents named Cosmo and Wanda. The series started out as cartoon segments that ran from September 4, 1998 to March 23, 2001 on Oh Yeah!...
(2001) - Ed, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n EddyEd, Edd n Eddy is an original animated television series created by Danny Antonucci and produced by Canadian-based a.k.a. Cartoon. It premiered on Cartoon Network on January 4, 1999. Ed, Edd n Eddy was one of Cartoon Network's longest running and most successful franchises and the longest-running...
(1999) - SpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePantsSpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series, created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. Much of the series centers on the exploits and adventures of the title character and his various friends in the underwater city of "Bikini Bottom"...
(1999) (only in season 2 and 3 and only in deleted scenes) - A Pup Named Scooby-DooA Pup Named Scooby-DooA Pup Named Scooby-Doo is the eighth incarnation of the Hanna-Barbera Saturday morning cartoon Scooby-Doo. This spin-off of the original show was created by Tom Ruegger and premiered on September 10, 1988 and ran for three seasons on ABC as a half-hour program, until August 17, 1991...
(1988) - Cow and ChickenCow and ChickenCow and Chicken is an American animated series, created by David Feiss. The series shows the surreal adventures of a cow, named Cow, and her chicken brother, named Chicken. They are often antagonized by "The Red Guy", who poses as various characters to scam or hurt them...
(1997)
- Drake and Josh (2004)
- Ned's Declassified School Survival GuideNed's Declassified School Survival GuideNed's Declassified School Survival Guide, commonly called Ned's Declassified for short, is an American live-action situation comedy on Nickelodeon that debuted in the channel's Sunday night TEENick scheduling block on September 12, 2004. The series' actual pilot episode aired on September 7, 2003...
(2004) - I Am WeaselI Am WeaselI Am Weasel is an American animated television series produced by Cartoon Network Studios in co-production with Hanna-Barbera, created by David Feiss, and broadcast on Cartoon Network....
(1997) - Dexter's LaboratoryDexter's LaboratoryDexter's Laboratory is an American animated television series created by Genndy Tartakovsky and produced by Cartoon Network Studios . The show is about a boy named Dexter who has an enormous secret laboratory filled with an endless collection of his inventions...
(1996) - 2 Stupid Dogs2 Stupid Dogs2 Stupid Dogs was an American animated television series created by Donovan Cook and produced by Hanna-Barbera and Turner Program Services that originally ran from September 5, 1993 to February 13, 1995 on TBS. The main segments of the show featured two dogs, "Big Dog" and "Little Dog". The Big Dog...
(1993) - Rocko's Modern LifeRocko's Modern LifeRocko's Modern Life is an animated series created by Joe Murray. The show aired for four seasons between 1993 and 1996 on Nickelodeon. Rocko's Modern Life is based around the surreal, parodic adventures of an anthropomorphic wallaby named Rocko, and his life in the city of O-Town...
(1993) - The Ren & Stimpy Show (1991) only in deleted scene
- My Little Pony: Friendship is MagicMy Little Pony: Friendship is MagicMy Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic is an animated television series that premiered on October 10, 2010 on the United States cable network The Hub, and is based on Hasbro's My Little Pony line of toys and animated works. The series is produced by Hasbro Studios and DHX Media Vancouver...
(2010) - AnimaniacsAnimaniacsSteven Spielberg Presents Animaniacs, usually referred to as simply Animaniacs, is an American animated series, distributed by Warner Bros. Television and produced by Amblin Entertainment and Warner Bros. Animation. The cartoon was the second animated series produced by the collaboration of Steven...
(1993) - Looney TunesLooney TunesLooney Tunes is a Warner Bros. animated cartoon series. It preceded the Merrie Melodies series and was Warner Bros.'s first animated theatrical series. Since its first official release, 1930's Sinkin' in the Bathtub, the series has become a worldwide media franchise, spawning several television...
(1930) - Merrie MelodiesMerrie MelodiesMerrie Melodies is the name of a series of animated cartoons distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures between 1931 and 1969.Originally produced by Harman-Ising Pictures, Merrie Melodies were produced by Leon Schlesinger Productions from 1933 to 1944. Schlesinger sold his studio to Warner Bros. in 1944,...
(1931) - The Looney Tunes ShowThe Looney Tunes ShowThe Looney Tunes Show is a packaged show, created for Cartoon Network, and broadcast from 2002 to 2005. It was produced by Warner Bros. Animation. The show featured cartoon shorts from the original Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies theatrical cartoon series produced from 1930 to 1969.-External links:...
(2011) - The Amazing World of GumballThe Amazing World of GumballThe Amazing World of Gumball is a British/American animated television series created by Ben Bocquelet. It first aired on May 2, 2011 in the United Kingdom as a sneak preview and officially premiered on September 5, 2011. It premiered a week later on May 9, 2011 in the United States on Cartoon...
(only in The Dress) (2011) - T.U.F.F. PuppyT.U.F.F. PuppyT.U.F.F. Puppy is an American animated television series created by Butch Hartman for Nickelodeon. It premiered on October 2, 2010 on Nickelodeon after the premiere of Planet Sheen. The series' main character is a dim-witted but determined dog named Dudley Puppy , who works as a secret agent for an...
(2010) - iCarlyICarlyiCarly is an American sitcom that focuses on a girl named Carly Shay who creates her own web show called iCarly with her best friends Sam and Freddie. The series was created by Dan Schneider, who also serves as executive producer. It stars Miranda Cosgrove as Carly, Jennette McCurdy as Sam, Nathan...
(2007-2011) - VictoriousVictoriousVictorious is an American sitcom created by Dan Schneider for Nickelodeon. The series revolves around aspiring singer Tori Vega , a teenager who attends a performing arts high school called Hollywood Arts High School, after taking her older sister Trina's place in a showcase while getting into...
(2010-2011)
Many primetime shows use an extensive amount of innuendo to the point that it is rated TV-PG/14 D for dialogue. Shows such as The Simpsons
The Simpsons
The Simpsons is an American animated sitcom created by Matt Groening for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series is a satirical parody of a middle class American lifestyle epitomized by its family of the same name, which consists of Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie...
, Futurama
Futurama
Futurama is an American animated science fiction sitcom created by Matt Groening and developed by Groening and David X. Cohen for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series follows the adventures of a late 20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy, Philip J...
, Son of the Beach
Son of the Beach
Son of the Beach is an American sitcom that aired from 2000 to 2002 on the FX network. The series was a spoof of Baywatch, with much of the comedy based on sexual jokes, innuendo and the like. The studly David Hasselhoff character is instead an average, pot-bellied, out-of-shape bald man but...
, The Office
The Office
The Office is a popular mockumentary/situation comedy TV show that was first made in the UK and has now been re-made in many other countries, with overall viewership in the hundreds of millions worldwide. The original version of The Office was created by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant. It...
, King of The Hill
King of the Hill
King of the Hill is an American animated dramedy series created by Mike Judge and Greg Daniels, that ran from January 12, 1997, to May 6, 2010, on Fox network. It centers on the Hills, a working-class Methodist family in the fictional small town of Arlen, Texas...
, Regular Show
Regular Show
Regular Show is an American animated television series created by J. G. Quintel...
(2010) House
House (TV series)
House is an American television medical drama that debuted on the Fox network on November 16, 2004. The show's central character is Dr. Gregory House , an unconventional and misanthropic medical genius who heads a team of diagnosticians at the fictional Princeton-Plainsboro Teaching Hospital in...
, Beavis and Butt-head
Beavis and Butt-Head
Beavis and Butt-head is an American animated television series created by Mike Judge. The series originated from Frog Baseball, a 1992 short film by Judge. After seeing the short, MTV signed Judge to develop the concept. Beavis and Butt-head originally aired from March 8, 1993 to November 28, 1997...
, Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris
Everybody Hates Chris is an African American television period sitcom inspired by the teenage experiences of comedian Chris Rock , while growing up in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York . The show is set from 1982 to 1987; however, Rock himself was a teenager during years...
, George Lopez
George Lopez (TV series)
"The George Lopez Show" redirects here. For the late-night program hosted by the same comedian, see Lopez Tonight.George Lopez is an American sitcom starring comedian George Lopez...
, American Dad!
American Dad!
American Dad! is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane and owned by Underdog Productions and Fuzzy Door Productions. It is produced in association with 20th Century Fox Television...
, Tosh.0
Tosh.0
Tosh.0 is an American television series hosted by comedian Daniel Tosh, who provides sarcastic commentary on online video clips, society, celebrities, and other parts of popular culture.-History:...
, and especially Family Guy
Family Guy
Family Guy is an American animated television series created by Seth MacFarlane for the Fox Broadcasting Company. The series centers on the Griffins, a dysfunctional family consisting of parents Peter and Lois; their children Meg, Chris, and Stewie; and their anthropomorphic pet dog Brian...
and South Park
South Park
South Park is an American animated television series created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone for the Comedy Central television network. Intended for mature audiences, the show has become famous for its crude language, surreal, satirical, and dark humor that lampoons a wide range of topics...
have done this. British sitcoms, such as Are You Being Served, among others, have also done this.
Also, many radio shows, including The Gallo Radio Show, most of the songs played on Southern Crossroads, sometimes The Rick & Bubba Show
Rick and Bubba
Rick Burgess and Bill "Bubba" Bussey are cohosts of The Rick & Bubba Show—a syndicated comedic radio program based in Birmingham, Alabama...
, The Steve and DC Morning Show
DC and the Family
The Steve and DC Morning Show was a show that broadcast out of St. Louis, Missouri. It starred Steve and DC and revolved around current news stories, entertainment gossip, games, phone shams, debates on current events, and personal stories from the cast and their families.On April 23, 2008 Steve...
, especially The JT & Dave Show, Air Bubba and The Bob & Tom Show
The Bob & Tom Show
The Bob & Tom Show is a syndicated US radio program established by Bob Kevoian and Tom Griswold at radio station WFBQ in Indianapolis, Indiana, March 7, 1983, and syndicated nationally since January 6, 1995....
are notable for this.