See also: doubletalk and double-talk

English edit

Alternative forms edit

Etymology edit

From double +‎ talk. Compare Middle English twispeche, Old English twīspǣċ, twīsprǣċ.

Pronunciation edit

  • Audio (AU):(file)

Noun edit

double talk (uncountable)

  1. Doublespeak.
    • 1947, Men's Wear, volume 114, page 90, column 1:
      "Frammis on the Antispode": The doubletalk heading this paragraph takes the sting out of Mr. Ruark's comment, even if his gay colored foulard Sinatra bow tie didn't contradict his comment[.]
  2. Lies, especially in a formal political statement.
  3. (comedy) Speech which combines English (or some other language) and native-sounding gibberish for humorous effect.
    • 2014, Rick DesRochers, The Comic Offense from Vaudeville to Contemporary Comedy, Bloomsbury, →ISBN, page 15:
      [Sid] Caesar's vaudeville format included burlesques—in the nineteenth-century meaning of parody—featuring silent-film and film noir send-ups; Italian opera produced in Caesar's ad-libbed, faux-Italian double-talk; []
  4. A simple phonetic code with a regular infix that makes meaningful speech sound unintelligible.
  5. (telephony) A situation when two people talk at the same time, causing overlapping audio signals.

Synonyms edit

Derived terms edit

Further reading edit