Innocent Innuendo

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.
Bad time to drop the phone in mayonnaise.

A deliberate ploy to make the viewer think something sexy or illicit is occurring when it actually is not. A scene will begin with its characters not visible to the camera, or partially obscured; the dialogue between them seems lascivious and explicit, and may be laced with double entendres. But when the camera finally reveals the whole scene, the action involved is entirely innocent and the dialogue turns out to be referring, entirely or mostly, to these innocent actions—it is only in the dirty minds of the viewers that anything untoward happened.

Sometimes this is hard to bring off believably. In many cases, if you listen carefully to the supposedly innocent phrases, they don't sound natural, don't fit the conversation, and are totally unlike the way the characters usually speak. In fact, it was tailor-made to lead to a misunderstanding, and makes a lot more sense in that context than in the supposed true meaning. But the situation is often so distracting it's hard to notice at first.

This is also often pulled off on other characters in-story. Sometimes, the viewers will see the explanation of the scene first, and then we cut to an angle from which an ugly subtext can be (mis)construed by outside observers.

Usually perpetrated immediately upon return from a commercial, for comedic effect.

This is related to Comedy of Errors, and the polar opposite of both Getting Crap Past the Radar and Accidental Innuendo. See also Not So Dire (where the subject is danger, not sex), Does This Remind You of Anything? and That Came Out Wrong. Sometimes prompts someone to say "Is That What They're Calling It Now?" Compare Accidental Pun, where a non-sexual remark is misinterpreted as, well, a pun; and Orgasmic Combat, when fighting sounds like...something else.

No real life examples, please; we'd be here all day.

Examples of Innocent Innuendo include:

Advertising

  • One State Farm ad features a guy talking on the phone at 3 am saying, "Yeah I'm married. Does it matter? You'd do that for me? I'd like that". His wife thinks he's cheating and takes the phone and asks what the person on the other line is wearing. It turns out to be a (male) State Farm agent, but she doesn't believe him.

WIFE: "She sounds hideous."
HUSBAND: "Well, she's a guy, so..."

Anime and Manga

  • In the four-part Crayon Shin-chan story arc The High School Years, Shin is a boxer in school, and when his crush sees him practicing while walking down a sidewalk in the rain, she thinks to herself "He's taken up boxing again, which represents everything I most loathe in this world. And yet... he looks so hot doing it. I'm getting so wet just standing here watching him... I really should go inside where it's not raining."
  • In episode 22 of Axis Powers Hetalia, Germany rushes over, apparently thinking that North Italy's brother is raping him and got "stuck", only to find that it was just a chunk of his hair...
    • And from the manga we have this scene [dead link], in which Japan overhears a less than innocent sounding exchange between Italy and Germany.
  • In an early episode of Rune Soldier Louie, a scene begins showing sweet young thing Ila bouncing up and down, eyes closed, apparently in the throes of sexual ecstasy as offscreen Louie is heard grunting and huffing; it turns out that she is actually sitting on Louie's back as he does a set of pushups. (Given Ila's feelings about Louie, she may well have been in the throes of sexual ecstasy, but the scene still isn't the one the viewer initially thinks it is.)
  • In one scene in Maburaho, Shikimori Kazuki appears to be having sex with an offscreen female while Kamishiro Rin's voice offers encouragement such as "more" and "faster". The camera then shows that Rin is standing next to Kazuki, making him do pushups.
    • Another time Miyami Yuuna asked Kazuki to "make [her] a woman". The camera then showed Kazuki taking her hand and directing it toward his pants... where Kazuki was holding an eel that Yuuna was trying to work up the courage to touch.
  • Ignoring the imaginations of the yaoi fangirls listening in, this page from a fan comic the illustrator of Genshiken. And the reality.
  • Subverted and lampshaded in Love Hina when Keitaro and his adopted sister Kanako (who has a massive crush on him) are heard exchanging extremely suggestive-sounding dialogue with lots of panting. What were they actually doing? He was helping her with her math studies. But what about helping her with math could possibly cause that kind of dialogue? Absolutely nothing!

Naru: Math is not an orgasmic experience!

  • In Martian Successor Nadesico, resident otaku Hikaru Amano is suspected to be having a relationship with the much older Seiya Uribatake. Akito and Yurika track them down behind a large crate in the hangar bay, overhearing Uribatake advising Hikaru on how to hold certain tools and several other innuendos before Akito is forced to intervene. They then discover it was simply the pair of them making robot models.
  • In a scene in Mahou Sensei Negima, Asuna is being goaded by some of her classmates into thinking that Little Miss Badass Vampire Evangeline may be doing something... untoward, to their ten-year-old teacher Negi. Things actually seem to be going that way from a conversation she overhears when they find them, but in actuality, she's just sucking his blood, and from his arm, at that.

Evangeline: Hurry and whip it out!
Negi: Evangeline-san, no! We mustn't!
Evangeline: I told you, call me Master....

    • The scene mentioned in I Didn't Mean to Turn You On is repeated at the beginning of Chapter 263 to invoke this trope, though given the whole point of said event, only Negi is the innocent one.
    • Later on, Chachamaru nearly causes Chisame's head to explode with this poorly worded statement about Negi's martial arts training:

Chachamaru: I have been serving as Negi's partner every night and he seems to be happy about it.

    • Haruna does this on purpose when she creates a fake Negi so that the girls can practice their Pactio kisses.

Haruna: In case anyone was wondering, he sports an impressive length of 23.5 centimeters!
Other girls: * Shocked Stares*
Haruna: Hmmmmmm? What exactly are you imagining? I was talking about his tongue, of course!
Other girls: THAT'S EVEN WORSE!!

  • An episode of Umisho has Covert Pervert Shizuoka overhear Amuro and Kaname talking about something in a shrine. Amuro mentions something "soft, but when you poke it it, it gets harder." Shizuoka assumes the obvious, but in reality, they're talking about the state of the food offerings.
  • Doujin Work does this in practically everything it can get its hands on. (Um, wait...) A show dealing with the struggles of a newbie doujin artist, it often brings up jokes such as comparing virginity to being a beginner artist, and partnership to lesbianism. Every episode title also relates to some form of innuendo pun or hentai cliche. Although other times it's clearly on purpose, such as the creepy relationship between two other characters, more often than not it can disturb viewers from even getting into the doujinshi industry.
  • Kyousuke hears Monica and Kai engage in this after Kai's defeat at Monica's hands in the Monaco Cup arc of Yakitate!! Japan. Turns out they were just baking bread. Of course, it helps when your tenue de travail is an American flag bikini or a loincloth.
    • Another example occurs earlier in the series, when Kinoshita overhears what he interprets as Azuma sexually assaulting Tsukino. Turns out she was just upset by him soaking his dough. And that's not a euphemism.
  • In Ranma ½, poor Akane is the victim of one of these, as she overhears Ukyou and Ranma doing... something in the solitude of Ukyou's room, complete with the chef's squealing and Ranma's grunting. Many mentions are made of "pulling out" and "grabbing it." Akane, thinking the worst, bursts into the room with tears in her eyes... and finds Ukyou and Ranma playing poker, preparing for Ranma's match with the Gambling King.
    • Actually, no: they were playing Old Maid, and Ukyou's insistence that he make up his mind and pick one resonated too deeply with Akane's paranoia that Ranma would choose his cute fiancee over her.
  • In Eyeshield 21's bath house manga arc, the boys listen in on Suzuna and Mamori's conversation on the women's side of bath house. Only after Monta erupts with a tremendous Nosebleed do we discover that Suzuna was referring to Mamori's bath towel.

Suzuna: "Mamo-nee's big! Mine's small, still like a kid! Can I touch?"
Mamori: "Oh, sure!"
Suzuna: "Oooh, soft..."

  • Mika in Nogizaka Haruka no Himitsu listens in on her older sister and Yuuto through a closed door. When she hears Haruka mentioning something of Yuuto's is "big and hot", she barges in and tries to interrupt—they were making pancakes.
    • Then there's the extended "drawing Doujinshi behind closed doors" scene in Purezza (which, meaning "purity" in Italian, is arguably a lampshade). This one has Haruka's father joining in on overhearing, at which point he chops down the bedroom door with a sword before realizing the scene isn't what he thought.
    • The trope is getting so common in Purezza that, combined with its general overuse elsewhere, it's starting to push the boundaries of Discredited Tropedom. Virtually every episode features extended Innocent Innuendo, and every episode title. I.e. "Please Put It In," "My Body Is Burning Up," and "It Might Have Gone In."
  • Oh boy, is this trope in spades in Black Butler. The author uses this to Lampshade Hanging the obvious Ho Yay between the two main characters. The corset scene and Ciel's asthma attack are the most well known (but certainly not the only times this trope is used). The former scene in both the manga and anime has Ciel shirtless, grunting and moaning and Sebastian behind him telling him to take it; lean against the wall if he has to. It turns out Ciel's being fitted for a corset. Oh btw, Ciel's a boy.
  • In Ai Yori Aoshi Kaoru and Mayu have a very suggestive dialogue about a card game.
  • In the first episode of KimiKiss pure rouge, Kouichi ponders his new living situation with his "big sis" Mao. Mao then enters his room, saying she couldn't sleep. Cut to a camera shot of Mao's door, as we hear her moaning...about the racing game they're playing.
  • In one episode of Magic Users Club, Sae hears her best friend Nanaka and Aburatsubo speaking in the magic club room. What sounds like sex in the process turns out to be... him putting her onto his literal broomstick so they could fly around the school.
  • Basquash has an extended sequence between Dan and Miyuki in its first episode that turns piloting one of the Bigfoot mecha into a much sexier experience, at least from the point of view of Miyuki's grandpa, who thinks that she's "doing it in the wrong order."
  • One of the main characters in Kanpai is a werewolf who ate a girl and was later transformed into human form. When he says that young girls taste the best, the schoolgirls interpret it as something else entirely.
  • To LOVE-Ru has one of these when Rito gets his hand stuck to Lala's tail, and Mikan overhears their attempts to remove it. Of course, this may not be entirely innocent, given that Lala's tail is rather sensitive.
  • Sister Princess uses this when Haruka gives an injured Wataru a moxibustion treatment. Given the sugary sweet nature of the series, it's obvious from the start to any discerning viewer that nothing scandalous is happening.
  • Several episodes of Gakuen Heaven begin with some rather suggestive dialog between two of the guys. Sadly for fangirls, this is always revealed to be something completely innocent.
  • In Sora no Manimani, Mihoshi casually walks into Saku's classroom and mentions how the two of them stayed up all night, were exhausted afterward, and she can't wait to do it again. As she skips off singing about stargazing with Saku, his classmates are getting other ideas.
  • Seto no Hanayome has an epic one involving San and Akeno in a bath, sounding for all the world like they're...enjoying themselves, while Nagasumi and Mawari listen outside. They were actually seeing how long they could stay in the water without reverting to mermaid form.
    • There's also one in the second episode, where Nagasumi tries to dry off San's tail while she's in her kimono. Except the rubbing itself looks... suggestive, to say the least, not even taking the dialogue into account. Oh, and San's parents happened to be walking by. The mother doesn't mind as much as the father, of course...
  • In the Sayonara Zetsubou Sensei episode where Commodore Perry shows up for some reason and starts disturbing everything, one thing he does is interfere for the character Kiri Komoroi who typically hides herself in various rooms throughout the school. Her Catch Phrase is "Don't open it!", so when he disturbs her, she makes a comment that "Only Sensei has opened me before." Itoshki-sensei comments that she shouldn't say things like that which give others the wrong impression.
  • Happens in Detective Conan: We see headshots of Hattori and Kazuha sweating and panting, mumbling things like "Shift to the right a bit," "No, a little higher," and "OW! That hurt!" Then they pan out and we realize they're tied together, having been kidnapped, and were trying to loosen the bonds. Naturally.
  • In FLCL, it's "batting practice" or "grabbing the guitar out of Naota's head"...so that's what they're calling now...
  • In the Hayate the Combat Butler "White Day" arc, Hayate runs into Hinagiku and ends up having to admit to her that he gave the cookies he was intending to give to Ayumu, to Maria instead. Her response 'You'll repay me with your body'. After Hayate's stuttering, she reveals that she was just talking about introducing him to a cafe-shop owner where he could make more. Why she used that specific phrasing is still confusing though.
    • Nagi also falls for this trope often, and the other characters usually lampshade how she's misreading conversations to be innuendos when they aren't. In these cases, the audience was often watching the original scene, and then laughs at Nagi's misinterpretations. Sometimes the other girls fall into this as well, even though they know full well that Hayate is a Chaste Hero.
  • In Mitsudomoe, Hitoha named the class hamster Chikubi (Nipples), thanks to Futaba's boob obsession dovetailing with the little creature's tail. When the hamster starts feeling bad, Hitoha says she's going to take Nipples home, talking about how everyone touched it and pinched it. Then Nipples stands up and the class begins chanting the hamster's name, wanting to touch him. Kuriyama-sensei has been outside listening, and has some very wrong ideas about what was going on.
  • When Kunimitsu from Ayanes High Kick is first shown, he is standing in the shadows staring at Ayane during her Pro-wrestling tryout with a smug grin on his face. Later when he introduces himself he digs the hole even deeper... though he was simply trying to take her on as a kickboxing student, Ayane didn't know that at the time.

"Nice legs, missy! I never thought I'd find a pair of legs like yours in this town!"

  • During the training camp set after the Prefectural finals in Saki, Fujita Pro invited Yumi to have a match with her and Hisa. This eventually led bit of dialogue in chapter 62 when Hisa was inviting the best players of the other schools to her room for some games so she can train herself.

Yumi: Hisa
Momo: Wh-wh-why are you calling her by her first name?
Yumi: We got along well last night.
Momo: Last night!? Got along well...!?
Hisa: *winks* Let's do it again today
Momo: *about to cry* Gethbot (talk) 00:16, 5 November 2013 (UTC)!!
Yumi: Calm down Momo. We're not doing anything special.
Momo: Doing what...!?

  • In Nagasarete Airantou Suzu and Shinobu have a discussion about how much fun it would be to ride Ikuto. Sitting on his shoulders like Yukino, of course.
  • This little gem from Dragon Ball Abridged:

Zarbon: Lord Freeza, Vegeta's really giving us a pounding!
Freeza: I'm coming Zarbon! Quick! Grab my balls!

  • In Dancougar Nova, Seimi finishes the Boost Nova Knuckle, and invites Sakuya to test it in the simulator room. Aoi and Kurara follow them, and listen in on their conversation, which sounds very sexual. They barge in to find Seimi standing outside the simulator, and Sakuya thrilled about his new weapon.
  • Shaman King had one scene in the anime with Tamao of all people. She's saying some odd things to Yoh, with her eyes squeezed shut and beads of sweat on her face. Then she wakes up.
  • Excel Saga Vol. 22 features this gem:

Watanabe: ...How does it feel inside a little girl?
Iwata: Hmm...It was kinda dull, you know...

    • They were of course talking about Iwata's brief stay in Ropponmatsu II's body. Sumiyoshi warns the two from making such comments in public.
  • In ×××HOLiC episode 3, Watanuki and Yuko have a very... interesting conversation (below) with no specific background to hint at what they're really doing. Turns out they were just playing baseball.

Watanuki: Are you... sure about this?
Yuko: I'm ready, Watanuki. Now. Give it to me. (the viewer is then shown the full scene of Yuko holding a bat) Pitch, Boy!
Mokona: PIIIITCH!

  • The first Fullmetal Alchemist series includes a scene of Riza Hawkeye in bed, moaning things like "Mmm, that tickles!" and "Oh, you're so bad!" only to pull the covers off to reveal her dog licking her foot.
  • Happened in the first Bleach movie when Senna was staying over at Ichigo's house.Senna was speaking in a very "suggestive" tone when she said that Ichigo's bed was comfortable and that she wanted to sleep in it.One of Ichigo's little sisters Yuzu and Ichigo's father were listening in on the conversation and thought something "different" was going on.
  • Kodomo no Jikan's second season's OAV: Kuro-chan and Shiro-chan starts with Rin making some very provocative sounds and saying some rather lewd things. Just to have the camera pan out to show that she is just at the nurses office and only getting a needle in the arm.

Comic Books

  • Used late in Y: The Last Man, where it's implied that the two main characters are getting it on, and it turns out that one is instructing the other in picking the lock on a deadbolt.
    • And again, in a conversation that simply cannot be anything other than two characters (one of whom is involved with another main character) giving mid-coital instructions... and that's exactly what it is. However, they're talking to their pet monkeys, who they've finally managed to coax into having sex (the male monkey, like the male main character, is the last male of his species and they very much want an impregnated female).
  • In a comic by Michael Kupperman, Roger Daltrey is continually thwarted in his quest for a "bird" (girl) by an old man who uses this technique to introduce him to actual birds.
  • And then there's "The Joker's Boner": Intentional or not?

Fan Works

  • The amount of fan-fics based around this trope could comfortably fill their own sub-genre. It boils down to one character/group A listening in on character/group B from the next room, or hearing about what they got up to after the fact.
  • Chapter 30 of A Day Indoors dials this trope—and the reactions to it—to 11, with Kotaro wondering why his flubbed lines in a rehearsal of Little Red Riding Hood leave Natsumi swooning in his arms or Ayaka and Chizuru getting impressive Nosebleeds.
  • The Naruto fic Cat Flap, about Sasuke trying to sneak Naruto out of his house... yeah, it doesn't make that much sense in context either that ended on the words "Harder Sasuke!"
  • A Touhou-related Flash animation has Flandre Scarlet asking Sakuya "What's 'sex'?", before explaining to the increasingly alarmed head maid that since some internet-capable computers had been brought in Gensokyo, she'd been browsing around. As turns out, it's just a sign-up form asking for her gender. Remember, people, don't let kids wander the 'net unsupervised!
  • Used and subverted in this Avatar: The Last Airbender fanfic, wherein Sokka and Toph are shouting at each other in the bedroom, much to the dismay of Zuko, who is right outside the door. It turns out that they were merely fixing the bed.
  • Kyon: Big Damn Hero has several of these, including one in the prologue where Haruhi asks if she can see it, and if it gets hot... she's talking about Kyon's beam sabre.
  • One example is a Yu-Gi-Oh GX fanfiction that is based around this trope called GX Misunderstandings, which relies largely on Jaden and Alexis invoking the trope and everybody else falling for it.
  • There is an entire Death Note fanfic, about Light and L installing a shower and Watari listening at the door. Hilarity Ensues.
  • When Bright Eyes (a/k/a Ditzy Doo) needed farrier work done on her hooves for her final confrontation with the griffon mobster who had ordered the deaths of her adoptive daughter's parents, she told Big Macintosh "I want you to nail me." Needless to say, he needed a second to regain his composure.
  • The Beyblade fic...Innuendo. Yeah.
  • This Mass Effect fic goes the OT3 route.
  • Done by Ichigo (on purpose) in The First Guardian when he wakes up Rukia with this line:

"Kurosaki Ichigo, we're in my room, and you're obviously tired and perhaps a little sore as a result of the stressful activities we voluntarily participated in last night. You were fantastic before I took the lead, by the way."

Sometime ago, Matsuda had left a post-it on one of the laptops in which he'd accidentally managed to wedge a biro into the CD drive in an attempt to extricate something.
"Pen is stuck in drive"
Only the 'pen' and 'is' were written too close together. L now had a 'penis stuck in drive' post-it stuck on his laptop screen. He was considering framing it.

Film

  • Kangaroo Jack: We see some guys looking at an envelope full of money in an airplane toilet, and cut to outside the toilet where we hear them saying something about scooping up brown and green stuff.
  • Mickey Blue Eyes: Something involving Hugh Grant and some other guy in a dressing room.
  • The first Austin Powers movie, specifically one infamous scene involving the phrase "Number Two" being shouted in a public restroom.
    • "That's right, you show that shit who's boss!"
    • Don't forget the shadow scenes from the second and third ones. No matter how much you might like to.
  • The animated movie Arabian Knight (aka The Thief and the Cobbler) has one character appear to be peeing, but on change of angle he's only squeezing water out of his robe.
    • "Now that I have the balls, I'll go see the King." He literally was referring to balls, specifically the three golden balls that are a MacGuffin.
  • XXX: State of the Union implies that Darius Stone (Ice Cube) immediately sought out a woman after escaping from prison. But the camera reveals that all the slurping and the "Who's your daddy?" comments are just him ravaging a cheeseburger.
  • In Bad Boys II, Mike (Will Smith) and Marcus (Martin Lawrence) have a frank discussion about the time (earlier in the movie) when Mike accidentally shot Marcus in the buttocks, and the subsequent problems. Unfortunately for them, the content of their talk makes it sound like the two are in a homosexual relationship... and the video camera just happens to be broadcasting their conversation to the entire store. A woman counsels them to "find Jesus".
  • The back massage scene in Tango and Cash.
  • Used in The Adventures of Baron Munchausen. The King and Queen of the Moon have detachable heads, and the Queen has left her body with the King while her head assists the Baron in escaping. She is making curious little shrieks, gasps, and giggles, to the confusion of the Baron's child sidekick. The Baron explains that the King is tickling the Queen's feet. He is.
  • Who can forget the "Patty-Cake" scene in Who Framed Roger Rabbit??
    • It's strongly implied that Patty-Cake really is considered adultery to Toons. Still a straight example, though.
  • In Robin Hood: Men in Tights they had Robin singing to Marian in ridiculous, overblown operatic style behind a screen, with Robin's sword angling up to look like he had an enormously erect phallus—much to the amusement of his Merry Men that were watching.
  • In Undercover Brother, Sista Girl is commenting on UB's big car, big hair and big jewelry as him "overcompensating for something", to which he replies "You forgot to mention my big, black, fuzzy balls". She's shocked at this till the camera pans back to him showing her the rubber balls he has hanging from his rear view mirror.
  • The Naked Gun has the following exchange between Frank Drebin and Jane after Jane climbs a ladder while wearing a dress:

Frank: (looking up at Jane) "Nice beaver."
Jane: "Thanks. I just had it stuffed." She then comes down the ladder holding a stuffed and mounted beaver.

  • From Superman II—Superman and Lois Lane are alone in the Fortress of Solitude:

Superman: (nervously) I've never done this before.
Lois: (snuggling up beside him) Just relax. You'll do fine.
Turns out he was trying to cook a souffle with his heat vision.

  • Inverted in the short film version of D.E.B.S., where the Charlies Angels-like team thinks their colleague is being tortured, but her screams are actually the villainess giving her an orgasm.
  • In Police Story, Jackie Chan's star witness finds out he set her up to accept his protection by staging a hit for him to save her from. She gets back at him by setting his tape player to record over their interview, then manipulating events so it'll sound like their actions (such as Jackie spilling juice on her, and her sitting on a cactus) sound like they're about to have sex. Particularly cool here is that there are two English dubs of the movie plus the directly translated DVD subtitles, giving us three different versions that all work perfectly.
  • In Pee Wees Big Adventure, waitress Simone's jealous boyfriend Andy hears conversation between her and PW that's not how it sounds...
  • Look Who's Talking does this with trying to get a splinter out.

Mollie: Ooh! I've never had one that big in me!

  • Snakes on a Plane. A couple who were about to have sex in the bathroom are killed by snakes. The flight attendants mistake the couple's struggles for sex.

"Oh he's good! (struggle stops) Okay, maybe not that good."

  • The opening scene of Van Wilder shows the titular character apparently receiving a blowjob from an elderly asian woman. Turns out she's a tailor measuring him for new trousers. (While enjoying a lollipop).
  • In Her Alibi Tom Selleck is accidentally shot in the ass with an arrow while talking on the phone to his editor. The following scene (as Selleck tries not to let on what's happened) gives the editor the idea that sex is occurring. While his girlfriend is trying to help him he shouts "Don't touch the shaft!"
  • Toward the very end of Igor, the main character shows Eva a blueprint. She asks him if he's really going to make it, and Igor replies that if it doesn't work out, they'll just adopt. The camera then shifts to Eva's POV, showing a blueprint for a dog.
  • In Disturbia there was a sequence showing how the protagonist dealt with his being stuck alone at home due to house arrest. One scene starts with the camera panning across the room. Before it reaches the protagonist, a rhythmic noise made by furniture can be heard, along with moans and grunts of pleasure from the character. As the camera focuses on him it is revealed that he was trying to scratch the itch on his leg which was covered by the GPS bracelet put on him for his arrest, when all the time the audience were led to believe he was satisfying a different kind of itch.
  • An example from American Psycho: what seems to be a sex scene turns out to be Patrick Bateman exercising while a slasher movie is playing on video.
  • Head Over Heels where the models are hiding in a bathroom stall where they hear two guys who they think are having sex. They're really trying to unclog the toilet. It doesn't end well.
  • At one point in I Wanna Hold Your Hand, one of the main girl characters is forced to hide in a hotel room closet. Before she can leave, the room becomes occupied by a man and his hired lady escort. The girl(and the viewers) can't see anything, but can hear giggles and sighs of pleasure. The girl finally decides that she has to get out of there even though she'll be seen. She bursts out of the closet and... the couple is fully clothed, having a picnic, and the lady is rubbing mayonnaise on the guy's bald head.
  • In Down With Love, Catcher (Ewan McGregor) is talking about his socks to Peter (David Hyde Pierce), and his secretary eavesdrops on the intercom mid-conversation:

Peter: What would you say is the average length, for most men?
Catcher: How would I know? You think I spend all my time in the locker room at the club making a comparative study?
Peter: Let me see yours again, then. We could measure. I'll get a ruler.
Catcher: Better make it a yardstick!
Peter: Let's be accurate. Make sure you've got it fully extended. Have it up the whole way.
Catcher: It stays up all the way, all day long, man! That's the miracle I was telling you about: better living through chemistry. You got... 16 inches.
Peter: 16 inches! How long does a man's hose have to be?
Catcher: That's 32 inches of confidence in every step. Don't forget - I've got two of 'em!
[the secretary faints]

    • This film also pulls off some rather impressive visual innuendo during a split-screen phone call between its two lead characters.
  • A staple of the Carry On films; for example, in Carry On Camping, Barbara Windsor and Sid James (or possibly Bernard Bresslaw, or both) are heard saying things like "can you get it up?", "no, not there!", "is it in yet?", etc, to the horror of James's/Bresslaw's character's wife/partner, who then discovers that the only thing that is being erected is a tent.
  • Implied in Mystery Team

Duncan: If anyone asks where Eric went, tell them that three grown-ups took him away to teach him a lesson about sticking his fingers in things.

  • A deleted scene in Iron Man 2 has Tony Stark at a party apparently suggesting to his Sexy Secretary that they do something rude then and there—it turns out she's wearing his repulsor glove and Stark wants her to fire it at an ice sculpture.

Literature

  • There is a running gag in the Discworld novels where there is a reference to hanging someone up by their "figgin" or removing or roasting said figgin. Invariably accompanying these instances there is either a footnote revealing that a figgin is a raisin pastry or a moment where one of the characters is shown wondering why the prospect of those punishments would cause so much terror.
    • Similarly, in Feet of Clay a dwarf baker demands that the criminals who robbed him should be hung up by the bura'zak-ka (town hall). "Now now, you know we don't practice that punishment in Ankh-Morpork." (Because Ankh-Morpork doesn't have a town hall.) After all, they kicked Olaf Stronginthearm in the bad'dhzakz (yeast bowl). A Fictionary can be a rich source of stuff like this.
    • "I'm the only one around who might be inclined to twiddle your handle again." from Thief of Time. Susan was indeed talking about turning a handle, as the person she was addressing had a wind-up time-storage device on his back, and he needed it to be kept wound so that he wouldn't fall victim to the frozen time affecting the rest of the Discworld.
    • When Captain Sam Vimes first met Lady Sybil Ramkin in Guards! Guards!, he arrived just as she was trying to get two of her dragons to mate, and what she said led Vimes to think she'd kidnapped someone and was doing things not just sexual but downright perverted to the poor fellow.

"Madam," he said coldly, "I am an officer of the Watch and I must warn you that the course of action you are suggesting breaks the laws of the city--" and also of several of the more strait-laced gods, he added silently "--and I must advise you that his Lordship should be released unharmed immediately--"

  • In So Long And Thanks For All The Fish, Ford Prefect is approached by a woman who offers him a good time and says she has a special service for rich people to make them happy. It turns out that her special service is to tell rich people that it's perfectly alright to be rich and they shouldn't feel guilty about it (she has a degree in psychology and economics and so can sound pretty convincing).
  • In the seventh Harry Potter book, surprisingly it is Hermione that comes out with one while the gang is making Polyjuice Potion to all turn into Harry. While watching the potion change colors, she blurts out:

Hermione: Ooh, you look much tastier than Crabbe and Goyle, Harry.
(everyone gives her strange looks)
Oh, you know what I mean!

  • The Scarlet Pimpernel: When Chauvelin first meets up with Marguerite at the Fisherman's Rest, the latter confides her boredom and unhappiness in her marriage to her old friend, who says he knows the perfect remedy. It turns out to be helping him track down the Scarlet Pimpernel, but in context, it at first sounds like he wants her to have an affair with him. (Note that some adaptations actually promote Chauvelin to a suitor/lover of Marguerite, making this Hilarious in Hindsight.)
  • From New Moon:

Bella: I put on my pajamas and crawled into bed. Life seemed dark enough at the moment that I let myself cheat. The hole - holes now - were already aching, so why not?

  • In Who Cut the Cheese? by Stilton Jarlsberg:
    • Ho's graffiti refers to "cutting the cheese", meaning a supply interruption. Ho shows no awareness of the bowel-related subtext.
      When Someone Cuts the Cheese, Take a Deep Breath
      If You Cut the Cheese, Everyone Will Notice
    • Ho writes the graffiti using "soft charcoal" found near where the rats used to sit. He later realizes it's dried rat poop.
  • One of the characters in Shy Leopardess by Leslie Barringer sings a song about a beautiful princess and handsome lord sneaking off together; when her father and brothers pursue vengefully, and think they're hearing words of love (he exclaiming, "My queen!" and she, "My chevalier!") ... the "lovers" are found to be playing chess.

Live-Action TV

  • The Xena: Warrior Princess episode "Altared States" uses a particularly unsubtle bit of Subtext in a scene where we see Xena and Gabrielle's clothes strewn on the bushes and hear comments such as, "How was that?" and "Very nice!". It turns out that Xena is showing Gabrielle how to catch fish by hand while they swim.
    • An even better example comes from the episode "A Comedy of Eros", in which Xena and Draco's clothes are thrown around, and they make grunting noises as the camera pans toward them. They were wrestling. Similarily, Gabrielle and Joxer's clothes are scattered, and Gabrielle asks to "go again". Joxer abliges. They were singing his theme song.
  • Red Dwarf, in the episode "Bodyswap": Rimmer promises to workout Lister's body. After first hearing potentially orgasmic grunting, the camera pans to the door to the Gym. However, we then discover Rimmer was only in the jaccuzi reading a "photography" magazine.
    • Also played straight in "Polymorph" when Rimmer encounters the robot Kryten, complete with vacuum cleaner hose attached to his groinal socket, struggling to remove Lister's shrunken polymorphic boxers.
    • And again in "Nanarchy", when Kryten explains to Cat and Kochanski that Lister wouldn't be able to use one of Kryten's spare arms as a prosthetic because it would be so heavy that, "with the strain and extra weight, it would be impossible for Mr. Lister even to get it up". Cat remarks, 'He could always take it off if he was going on a date'.
  • NCIS "One Shot One Kill". A male character's inability to eat with chopsticks is made to sound like an inability to perform a sexual act upon a female coworker.
    • NCIS does this quite a bit—frequently with Ziva to blame. In "Silver War" some crack was made about Paris Hilton, both the heiress and the hotel—and the logical innocent innuendo follows... until Ziva smilingly comments that blondes aren't her type and walks away. (She does this sort of thing quite a bit in the earlier seasons, it's almost as if we're being led up to something...)
    • "In the Zone". When Tony and Jardine share quarters in Iraq, the camera gives a slow pan across their discarded clothes while we hear their ecstatic cries of "Yes! Yes!" We then see them in shorts and singlets due to the heat, overjoyed at finally establishing a videochat connection with their colleagues.
  • One episode of How I Met Your Mother has Marshall telling Lily (in a bar) that he wants to "give her the whole package", meaning provide a nice life for her. Lily insists that he already has a "huge package". The woman sitting next to them suddenly becomes very interested in Marshall.
    • In another, Mary the paralegal's description of her day falls into this territory as Ted (and the viewer) believes that she's a prostitute.
    • Before she was a Canadian pop star, Robyn was on a kids show called Space Teens. It contained truckloads of Innocent Innuendo. It included such bits as the 'Beaver Song' and two teenage girls solving math problems while controlling a very long joystick to the encouraging words of Alan Thicke. The cameraman had shaky hands so all the footage is extra 'bouncy'. Barney even lampshades this by describing Robyn's TV career as one would describe that of a porn actress.
  • Three's Company was notorious for this.
    • Jack and Chrissy are hiding in the bathroom, eavesdropping on Janet and her date, who, unbeknownst to them, are talking about some ferns Janet has in the apartment. They overhear Janet's friend remark, "Those are two beauties!" and Hilarity Ensues with the following further remarks: "If you want them to grow, you've got to put them in the window." "They feel a little dry. When was the last time you steamed them?" "They're so delicate!" "I've never seen such gorgeous exaltatus!" (Jack to Chrissy: "I've never heard them called that before!")
  • An entire episode of the British children's series Rainbow was comprised of a series of sexual innuendos, including a comment about, "Playing with our friends' (toy) balls," and "plucking our twangers (a musical instrument)". It was made by the cast and crew for their own edification, and with absolutely no intent of broadcast. Appropriately, it's even more over-the-top than most examples on this page.
  • Lester in Beakman's World has several instances of this. For instance, in one scene he's watering a plant, and from the camera angle, it looks like he's watering it, um, the natural way. In comes Beakman, who assumes what the viewer does, but when Lester turns to answer him, we see he's holding a watering can.
  • Benny Hill used this gag and many others of the same stripe on The Benny Hill Show.
  • The episode of Skins "Jal" has Sid helping Jal into her dress in a fitting room. We cut to outside in the shop where them struggling with the zipper sounds like them struggling with "other things". When Sid leaves the fitting room he is told by a woman that he is a pervert, much to his confusion.
    • And Pandora pretty much consists of this trope.

Pandora: Come on! We can do brownies then lick our bowls out.
Katie: Do you think she knows how filthy she sounds half the time?
Effy: Sometimes I wonder.

    • And then a later instance where she notes that boyfriends "just want to get into her box".
  • In the New Tricks episode "Ducking and Diving", Brian develops an interest in deep-sea diving, and wants to share it with his wife, Esther. As he tells her he thought they could do with a bit more excitement and bought rubber suits after seeing a video at work, she looks extremely uncertain.
    • There's also the time Brian was trying to find out from Sandra whether he was paid the same or more than Gerry and Jack; in retrospect, he earned the strange look she gave him when he asked her "Are you fully cognizant of the size of my packet? Is it a large one or a bit...(makes a 'teeny' gesture with his fingers)?"
  • In one of John Mortimer's Rumpole stories, Claude Erskine-Browne overhears conversations between young secretary Dot Clapton and one of the judges that causes him to believe she is being sexually harassed. He tries to comfort her, and ends up accidentally harassing her himself. It is later revealed that she and the judge are both members of a theatre guild, and that they were rehearsing a scene.
  • Subversion: In the Red was a BBC miniseries about politics and publicity. One of the protagonists is the speech-writer for the leader of a minor political party—he mainly got the job because he has a degree in English, and fancies the leader's daughter, but is too nerdy to do anything about it. By the end of the final episode the leader is facing a vote of no confidence, and the speech-writer cannot come up with anything better than a frank and forthright apology for only doing his best in difficult circumstances. Immediately upon finishing recording this into his dictaphone, the daughter comes into his hotel room, and takes her top off. Cut to next morning, and an anonymous secretary quietly picks up the dictaphone from the bedroom floor, trying not to wake the sleeping couple. That afternoon, the leader gives his speech in a triumphal manner. After the words as dictated by the speech-writer, he carries on: "I want you to take me. I do. Yes. Oh yes. Oh yes!" It got a standing ovation from the party.
  • The Frasier episode "Matchmaker" subverts this by having Frasier discussing the same things he always does (music, clothing) with a man he doesn't know to be gay who assumes that he (Frasier) is hitting on him.
  • The X-Files does this a few times with Agent Mulder shown watching what sounds like a porn video, only to be revealed as either a legitimate FBI surveillance tape or "World's Worst Swarms" about someone being attacked by bees.
  • Lampshaded on the Saturday Night Live sketch about "Schweddy Balls." The audience can see that the two radio hosts are actually eating chocolate malt balls, but the unseen radio listeners would be getting all the unconscious innuendo.
    • Further pointed out in their sequel sketch about Pete Schweddy's new product: hot dogs (called wieners constantly, of course). A breathless phone pervert actually called the show to ask about Pete's wiener. Obviously, Pete cluelessly played along.
    • And later in the Betty White episode, they do another one of these where they talk to an old lady who owns a bakery and came on the show to talk about muffins of various kinds.
  • House did it in episode 4-12, "Don't Ever Change", when Roz needed an ultrasound. House asked Thirteen, "You do it both ways, don't you?", and after Thirteen took it the wrong way, he stated he was talking about two different ways to do the ultrasound.
    • Yeah, but he did that on purpose, knowing full well that she "goes both ways".
    • Not to mention the whole "Blue the janitor" exchange. ("The janitor's name is Lou!" "Well, then I owe him an apology." Wilson sounds so traumatized.)
  • The conservative and idealistic Inspector Fowler from The Thin Blue Line had a tendency to make statements containing innuendo that everyone except him could see.

"Ah, Christmas -- when Father brings home a plump bird for dinner and tells Mother to stuff it..."
"Have I said something amusing, Constable Habib?"

    • And when his job depended on an important operation.

Remember, it's your cockup, my arse!

  • The League of Gentlemen has one scene that starts by making it look as though Benjamin is being forced to perform oral sex on Harvey. It turns out he's just cleaning the toilet brush.
  • In the third season episode of Angel "Offspring", Fred goes downstairs to the sound of Cordelia saying things like "My body doesn't bend that way." Turns out Angel was teaching her how to fight.
  • Subverted in Fist of Fun where they would come up with something that sounded dirty, twist it to make it sound innocent, and then do a further twist to reveal that it was in fact as dirty as it sounded. (For example, "Do you like Big Cocks???? Then come along to the annual chicken rearing contest." Please note, although it's called a chicken rearing contest, only Men's Big Cocks will be on show.)
  • In the Musical Episode of Scrubs ("Guy Love") we get an example of this:

J.D.: (to Turk) You are the only man who's ever been inside of me!
Turk: Whoa, whoa, I just took out his appendix.

  • Inverted on CSI, when a movie star's aide asks whether his boss wants French or Italian that night. It sounds as if they're talking about food, until the actor spots a pair of Asian knockouts across the casino floor and replies: "How about Chinese?"
  • Tobias on Arrested Development has a habit of making everything he says sound like a gay come-on. At one point Michael, not wanting to just point it out, recommends that he start recording himself, play it back at the end of the day, and see if he can figure out what he keeps doing wrong. At the end of the episode he does notice a pattern: "Oh, Tobias, you blowhard!"
  • Used several times in the Show Within a Show When the Whistle Blows in Extras, Andy Millman's character overhears increasingly innuendo-laden language in storms in on the other characters demanding to know what is going on. (Example: "Put it in your mouth", "Don't suck, blow" — one of the characters is trying to teach the other how to play the recorder.)
  • Subverted on Dexter. We hear Lila talking to Dexter in a way that leads the viewer to think they're having sex, then we assume that she's probably just teaching him how to paint. Then the camera reveals that they are actually...having sex.
    • Also the entire intro. It strongly implies violence, blood, gore, and death, but is actually just images from his morning routine.
  • In the pilot episode of the RoboCop live-action show, two minor villains are shown horizontally, facing each other, bouncing up and down, and panting. Then the camera rotates 90 degrees and zooms out to show that they're working out on treadmills that are oriented in opposite directions.
  • In The Nanny episode "A Fine Friendship",an in-universe version of this happens. Maxwell ends up seeing Fran in a bra and tells her to put a shirt on. The shirt gets stuck and this happens:

Fran: (with the dress over her head) Oh, Mr. Sheffield, I'm so hot!
Maxwell: Don't worry, Miss Fine, we'll get it on! I can't do this: get on the bed! (He tosses her on the bed and takes the dress off and then sees Niles in the door way grinning)
Niles: If you let me tell Ms. Babcock about this, I'll work free for a year.

  • An episode of the Clueless Recycled: the Series had Cher's dad overhearing her male pal through her bedroom door saying "it should be stiff...no wrinkles." When dad enters, Cher's pal is merely showing how his dad showed him how to properly make a bed in the Marines.
  • In an episode of All Creatures Great and Small, one of Tristan's nurse-friends went to sleep in his room while Tristan himself slept on the sofa downstairs. Siegfried woke her up in the night, thinking she was Tristan. Mrs Hall overhears only half of the resulting conversation... guess which half.

Daphne: Oh, your brother was wonderful... and a perfect gentleman. He can teach you a thing or two, Tristan Farnon! [...] Oh, he certainly knows how to make a woman feel like a woman... if you know what I mean. [...] You notice men in my job. [...] You know, get to know things. I suppose you could call it, hm, sort of intimate.

  • Buffy the Vampire Slayer. In "The I in Team" Riley appears to be asking Buffy if she's OK with them having sex, but is actually taking her down to the Initiative's Elaborate Underground Base.
  • This exchange from Stargate Atlantis episode 5.15, as Richard Woolsey sees that a women he's been flirting with found his balcony hang-out spot:

Woolsey: You’ve approached my private spot!
Woman: ...What?
Woolsey: I mean you’ve entered my little personal area.
Beat
Woolsey: ...This is where I come... to be alone with my thoughts.

  • In the episode "The Recombination Hypothesis" of The Big Bang Theory, Sheldon, Howard and Raj play Settlers of Catan. To best exploit this trope, Sheldon is the one who needs lumber.

Sheldon: Who has wood for my sheep?

Music

  • The Ames Brothers' song "The Naughty Lady of Shady Lane" is entirely built around this trope, seeming to use roundabout language to describe a woman of ... questionable virtue who has recently moved into the neighborhood, but who might be redeemed by the right man. However, the last line of the song reveals that the Naughty Lady is in fact a nine-day-old baby, and all the apparent euphemisms in the song are literal truths.
  • The Pogues' song "Small Hours" has one: "Now that you're alone with me -- Close the door and turn the key -- We'll stay up late and watch TV..."
  • "Me PSP" by The Lancashire Hotpots is made of this trope: "I try talking to the wife but she doesn't understand, the pleasure that it gives me when I hold it in me hand..."—referring, of course, to the eponymous handheld gaming device.
    • From the same song: "Been playing that Tomb Raider, have you seen the size... of the levels in that game?"
  • Many teenagers in the early '80s thought that Billy Squier's song "The Stroke" had sexual connotations—which is the main reason the song was a hit. (Yeah, and that drum lick's pretty cool, too...) The song is actually about the politics of the music industry.
  • The '40s R&B song "Big Ten Inch Record," later popularized by Aerosmith. There are also many other songs based on innocent innuendos.
  • Songs to Wear Pants To's song The Struggle To Become A Baseball Player starts out with some very... suggestive grunts and moans, but then reveals itself just to be part of the struggle to become a baseball player.
  • Da Yoopers has a song called "My First Time Ever", which sounds like it's about a sexual affair, talking about how she "spread her legs" and finally how the "white stuff came". It turns out that the song is really about his first time milking a cow.
  • ACDC's "Big Balls" is about the pleasure an upperclass gentleman takes in holding his massive... ballroom dances.
    • Arguably they drop all pretense in the second half of the song where they start chanting "pullem, suckem, pullem, suckem!". Does it count as innocent innuendo when they clearly gave up trying to keep it a pun half way through?
      • This song was never innocent -- it was written expressly to mock those who complained about the innuendo in other AC/DC songs.
  • "I CAN SWING MY SWORD!" by Tobuscus. Which is really funny because he really is talking about a sword made of diamonds...
  • "Back That Thing Up" by Justin Moore starts out sounding like another Stuffy Old Songs About the Buttocks, with lines such as "Back that thing up / Put it in reverse, let Daddy load it up". Then in the bridge he says, "Ain't no time to play today, no rolling in the hay". Read this review for a fuller analysis.

New Media

  • Lemon Demon's "Song of the Count" turns the Sesame Street song sung by Count von Count into one of these. It places a Sound Effect Bleep over every instance of the word "Count." It's still the exact same song, but your average schlubb's thoughts on hearing it will quickly prove that Freud Was Right. That the Sound Effect Bleep used is actually for that most versatile word does not help in the least. The 'ck' at the end of the Sound Effect Bleep is particularly noticeable at the beginning of the song.

I **** slowly, slowly,
 Slowy getting faster,
Once I start at **** ing it's very hard to stop!
Faster, faster, it is so exciting!
I could **** forever; **** until I drop!

Radio

  • Frequently used in The BBC radio comedies; some of them seem to do nothing else.
    • Especially I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
    • The Janet & John stories told on Wake Up To Wogan elevate this to a fine art, telling a sugary story in the style of a children's book about what John did that day. Unfortunately, when he explains it to his wife Janet afterwards, his adventures with Melanie Frontage and Pastor Kidneys don't sound quite so innocent to her.

See John run. Run, John. Run.

  • Used by Canadian radio personalities Mad Dog and Billie in a contest to see who had the strongest stomach for weird food. She brought tongue, he brought pickled bulls' testicles. ("I sucked your tongue, you have to lick my balls!")
  • The Doctor Demento Show is full of songs with innocent innuendos. One that comes to mind is "Davy's Dinghy" by Ruth Wallis, which turns out to be about a boat.
  • In an episode of Hello Cheeky, this is done in one sentence, with the title of a parody song given as I Wanna Give It To You, Babe, But I Can't Get It Down Off The Wardrobe.

Theatre

  • Inspector Barnes enters the Susanswerphone offices in Bells Are Ringing confident that he can close it down for being a prostitution front. Ella unwisely starts telling him about the personal degree of service she provides her customers with, and how Sue chides her for spending too much time on each one. Ella then picks up a call on the switchboard, but hasn't finished answering her caller before being interrupted by Barnes, who apparently has been listening only to her side of the conversation (the audience gets to hear both sides). He triumphantly declares Susanswerphone busted, and produces the taped evidence he thinks incriminating enough to send all the answering girls to the Women's Detention Home:

Ella's Voice: "Madame Grimaldi's. No, the Madame is out. Which girl do you want? There are several of us. Oh, that's me! Charge? Oh, for any friend of Madame Grimaldi's, it's free!"
Barnes: Now, which one of you is the Madam?
Ella: That's Madame Rosina Grimaldi, the opera star, and I happened to recommend a mustard plaster to her for a cold, and this friend of hers--Ohhhh! Have you got a dirty mind!

Video Games

Clover: It says "Riemann Hypothesis". What is there to hypothesize about with a reamin'? Isn't it pretty straightforward?
Snake: Heaven's no. There are many factors -- Length,girth,lubrication or lack of... It's an exciting and rapidly growing field.
Clover: Whoa

  • An Easter Egg scene in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater involved what looked and sounded like a sex scene, with both Snake and EVA grunting and groaning and making comments to each other—we see quick cuts of their faces twisted in exertion, and silhouettes of them on the far wall. EVA gives a final passionate wail, and we get a shot of her grinning face—and her hand, in which she's holding a tracking device one of the villains implanted on Snake, which she'd just managed to pull out. Hilariously, the shadows are of both of them wrestling.
  • Played repeatedly by Oghren in Dragon Age: Origins... maybe. The player (and most of the game's cast) are forced to guess just how innocently Oghren has been 'polishing his sword'. He also plays this one (seemingly) completely innocently a different time in reference to "pike-twirling".
    • And Awakenings has Oghren spot a darkspawn trying to steal his stuff, leading to the infamous line "No-one touches Oghren's junk and lives!"
  • Done by-the-book in Tenchu 3: Wrath of Heaven. Ayame overhears a villain telling a woman "what a nice pair you have, but let me show you mine!" They are talking about poker, of course.
  • In Ar tonelico, there is a scene where Lyner inserts a life-extending agent into Aurica. The dialogue sounds like it's Aurica's first time.
    • Ar tonelico has similar scenes (although admittedly not quite as over the top) when the Reyvateils describe the diving system, as well as when introducing the concept of installing.
    • In Ar Tonelico II, this is also done with Croix and Cloche, complete with Croix's horrified reaction to seeing the life-extending agent for the first time. "She can't take a crystal that big!"
  • "By the way, Innes' is gigantic. Don't those get in the way for girls?" A pair of skits in Tales of Hearts have the characters talking about the Mighty Glacier's signature weapon and appetite, respectively, and sounding like they were about her Boobs of Steel.
  • This conversation from Visual Novel Magus Tale:

Rena: Ehh, but i want to try your banana...
Daiki: (Don't get excited! Don't get excited!)

  • The Male Draenei in World of Warcraft will stray into this during his silly emotes. "When we arrived here, I had lost many jewels that had been in my family for generations. If you could get your hands on my family jewels, I would be deeply appreciative."
    • Also, the names for the Sons of Hodir daily quests: "Blowing Hodir's Horn," "Thrusting Hodir's Spear" (unlocked by completing the quest "Raising Hodir's Spear") and "Polishing the Helm" (unlocked after completing "Mounting The Helm.")
  • When explaining her existence as basically a hologram projected directly onto the retina (RSD) with distance and location where she chooses it to be, Sora mentions how her voice's location will also seem to change. When she's to the right, she seems to be heard from there, or to the left, or 60 feet behind. 'And when I am under you,' At which point Takeshi and The Kid question her being under them and she gets embarrassed and tries to end the conversation.
  • In Shadow Warrior, the protagonist's name is Lo Wang. Get it?
  • Ridge Racer: "Start your engines, and let's get it on!", in a sultry voice.
  • The following conversation from Phoenix Wright Ace Attorney case 1-5 about the pipe organ in Chief Gant's office:

Detective Gumshoe: The Chief's organ sure is a sight to behold. Occasionally we hear him playing it from the Criminal Affairs department.
Phoenix: (That's on the 2nd floor, and this is the 15th!)
Gumshoe: When a detective screws up, the Chief calls him to his office...and makes him listen to the organ for hours.

    • In AA 2, there is a scene in which the characters are talking about Max's bronze statue that is constantly refereed to as "Max's Bust" the trope is both played outright and subverted in this case.

Moe: "That's Max's bust. You can see it in this photo!"
Phoenix: "Max's...bust...?"
Moe: "Yeah! That thing is huge!"
Phoenix: "Maybe I should ask more about Max's bust...Not that I'm into that kind of thing..."

Web Comics

Belkar: I sense a great disturbance... as though a thousand double entendres cried out, and were suddenly silenced.

    • Though the first example is subverted when Haley adds "V says Elan has been running around naked, so I'm off to see what his 18 Charisma is worth under the hood.' "
    • "Slipping the wood" to some dryad hussy might count as a Double Subversion, as the incident in question is treated as being just as bad as if it had been in that way.
  • Another example, in this episode of 8-Bit Theater, Black Mage hears sounds coming from next door, where White Mage and Black Belt are sleeping. It sounds like some "action" is going on, however Black Belt is only practicing kung-fu moves while jumping on the bed.
    • Then there's the installment where Red Mage hides the team from Sarda in his A-hole. It is also entirely accurate to say that they are in his B-hole.
    • As well as a fairly good percentage of the things Red Mage says. "There is no problem that can't be solved by creative and vigorous use of animal husbandry!"
  • Parodied in Bigger Than Cheeses (NWS link) and PVP: when a character overhears a conversation that sounds like two people having sex, the Genre Savvy eavesdropper displays awareness of this trope and avoids leaping to conclusions, only for it to be revealed that the overheard characters genuinely were having sex.
  • Another example is this Flaky Pastry strip.
  • Used in an RPG World comic, turning out to be one of the characters struggling to put on a shirt that's too small for him with the help of one of the other party members, accompanied by an almost apologetic note from the author.
  • Used in this House MD cartoon to spoof a scene in House where Dr. House does walk in on Cameron and Chase having sex (or starting to, anyway) in a closet.)
  • Used in a Misfile strip.
  • This Dominic Deegan strip.
  • This Home On The Strange strip has two women discussing the unusually large size of a man's... book collection.
  • Tsunami Channel has done this on multiple occasions. Pulled off well in this two-strip installment of Experimental Comic Kotone. Done rather clumsily in this strip of Magical Mina.
    • Immediately after the aforementioned incident in ExCoKo, Konstantin thinks this way again despite actually being able to see what's going on.
  • Namir Deiter: Having already established "Cookies and pudding" as an Unusual Euphemism, Tipper offers some to her sulking fiancee, Charles. Cue Jacinda walking in on... a fully-clothed Tipper feeding fully-clothed Charles cookies dipped in pudding.
  • In Elf Life, Filis is gushing to Airek about how she and Baughb spent the previous day "frolicking". When Airek mentions that she didn't need to use euphemisms around him, she explodes:

Filis: When I said we frolicked, that's what we did! If we'd @#$%ed, I'd have said we @#$%ed!

  • The "Innuendo" arc of It's Walky! has about a week of innocent innuendo used to mess with the mind of another character.
  • Done over the course of two strips in Sluggy Freelance.
  • Classic scene in The Heroes of Middlecenter where Dark and Kiki are chatting in one part of the baths, but they don't know that Wolf and Thatch are bathing in the other side, and can hear every word they're saying.

Kiki: (indicating a small bird.) What's that?
Dark: It's a booby. You act like you've never seen one before.
Kiki: Can I touch it?

From there, it gets more and more suggestive until Thatch and Wolf decide to look over the wall to see what's going on, and Kiki gets pissed off and uses water magic on them, draining the bath.

Grace: I'm eighteen! I'm a major!
Raven: As though that makes you an adult.
Grace: Legally, it does. You can do all sorts of stuff with me!

Western Animation

  • Codename: Kids Next Door, "Operation POINT": The entire episode is one long Innocent Innuendo moment, as the KND are convinced that they've stumbled on to a factory that turns teens into adults, while we're convinced that "The Point" is where teens make out, among other things. One individual moment involves the KND opening a teen's car and going "Eww"... and it turns out to be a pile of cold fast food left in the car instead of teens making out. Later on, they're surprised to discover a rollerskating rink where they expected the factory to be.
  • In the Teen Titans episode where Blackfire visits, there is a scene where Starfire sees Robin and Blackfire's shadows and Blackfire is saying "There. Hold me just like that." After which, she throws Robin across the room in demonstrating some martial arts move. In another episode, Raven is being held back by strange little aliens. One scene, possibly a triple entendre, begins with her laying down making noises suggesting either pleasure or pain. (The motives of the aliens haven't been explained.) The camera zooms out to reveal the aliens giving her a back massage.
  • The Justice League episode "Wild Cards" opens with one of these. (The real double entendres are saved for later.)
  • Futurama: Professor Farnsworth calls the crew to his bedroom for a "special presentation" and closes the curtains. The ensuing dialogue ("It's beautiful!" "And so huge!" "Can I touch it?") refers to the atom of jumbonium that the professor had been hiding under his mattress.
    • Additionally, one episode starts up with Fry lying alone, awake, in bed, with a continuous sound of springs going up and down playing. He then asks them to stop, and the camera rolls to reveal that, as this is a robot apartment, two nearly-identical spring-mounted robots are playing cards.
    • Subverted in another episode, where Fry and Amy take a trip to Mercury but Amy's pod breaks down. When a man comes to help them, he gets excited when he sees the windows steamed up. He's disappointed when he sees them just playing cards. However, they do start making out later on.
  • Used on an episode of The Simpsons, where Bart and Lisa find and play a tape labeled "Homer and Marge Get Dirty", which is eventually revealed to have the two of them carving pumpkins.
    • Used (and played with) more successfully when Marge fears that Homer is sleeping with his Vegas wife, and later overhears them together in the treehouse. The viewer is actually let in on the secret as we see her putting together a hoagie, with suggestive commentary by Homer; Marge listens worriedly, then:

Marge: Oh, no... she's making him a sandwich! (Homer: Use both hands!)

Mindy: Homer? I got a really wicked idea that could get us into a lot of trouble.
Homer: Oh, Mindy... we have to fight our temptation.
Mindy: No, Homer, let's do it. [[[Beat]]] Let's call room service!

  • South Park has Chef's Chocolate Salty Balls.
    • Which is then subverted, or something, when Chef goes over to The Dark Side (literally, with a Darth Vader Suit and red lightsabre spatula) and becomes a pedophile.

Darth Chef: Hello there children. How would you like some Salisbury steak? [...] And for dessert, how would you children like to suck on my chocolate, salty balls?
William P. Conoly: Oh, you mean like a chocolate candy?
Darth Chef: No, I mean my balls.

    • And this exchange: Cartman: okay that's fine I'll just play with myself then, I like playing with myself anyway, I could just play with myself all day!,(Kenny bursts into laughter), Stop laughing Kenny!
  • Avatar: The Last Airbender: In "The Painted Lady," Katara and Aang come back to camp at sunrise. Sokka wasn't happy about their "morning walk." They had been out all night to destroy a factory.
    • In "Nightmares and Daydreams," Zuko is moping at Mai's house about apparently not being invited to a war meeting. His girlfriend puts her hands on his shoulders, smiles mischievously, and whispers, "You know what'll make you feel better?" There is just long enough of a pause before she suggests ordering a tray of fruit tarts to raise eyebrows.
    • "I don't need any protection!" "Hah, believe me, she doesn't." Face Palm
    • "The Drill." "Something came up. Something big." "Here it comes!" The...hypnotic thrusting, and splashing of...er..."mud" on the wall as it penetrates.
  • Captain Planet and the Planeteers: The Planeteers find Wheeler's and Linka's clothes in the woods... right before the viewers see they were just shrunk by Dr. Blight's latest experimental Applied Phlebotinum, and their clothes didn't shrink along with them.

Ma-Ti: Where would they have gone?
Kwame: Without their clothes?

  • In an episode of Rocko's Modern Life Heffer is talking to a female cat at a gym he's shaking nervously and turns around sweating, shaking, and grunting heavily implying that he's masturbating but the camera turns around to reveal that he's trying to eat a burrito with chopsticks.
  • During an episode of The Backyardigans, "Le Master of Disguise", once Austin gets in the train, Uniqua tells him to show her his "ticket". Once he hears this, he gets an embarrassed look on his face.
    • Also, during "Escape from Fairy Tale Village", Austin asks Uniqua how are her "lollipops" doing. During that episode, she portrayed the witch from "Hansel and Gretel", but he would be possibly referring to the other lollipops...
  • There is the hilarious Duckman "titmouse" moment, a brilliant six-line conversation between the titular character and his sidekick in which the usual over-the-top sexual tone of the show is taken down a notch and the two of them discuss if "squeezing the titmouse" is an acceptable activity, before rounding off the conversation with a nice lampshade, asking when the V-chip will be installed and their (somewhat innocuous, given the rest of the show) conversation would be bleeped.
  • The infamous "I had sex with all these fish" bit from Family Guy.

"I lay the old worm out there and wait until I get a bite. They struggle for a while but eventually they just lay back and accept it,"

    • Family Guy does seem to be fond of these. Another memorable line is Peter telling Lois "Ok, but remember our agreement, I go to this thing and tonight I get anal. No matter how clean I want the house, you have to clean it!"
    • When Peter says that if Lois wants a job, he has a job for her "right here", while indicating to his crotch area, what he means is that he wants her to repair the zipper.
    • Another in an episode in which Chris is caught spying on girls' dressing rooms, and later is in his bedroom, and all we can hear is the sound of, well... fapping. Peter is about to come in and talk to him, and Chris says "No, dad, just a minute... !!" as the patting sound gets faster... and then Chris was just using a paddle and ball.

"Aw, I was about to beat my record."

      • But then, Peter gives him some porn magazines as a safer form of voyeurism, and the sound is heard again except now Peter is holding the paddle and ball outside Chris' bedroom door. And not using it.
    • In a scene where Lois is pounding Peter's face into the carpet he was installing, she yells, "Say you like eating red carpet!"

Quagmire (falls over): "Giggity."

    • In "Jerome is the New Black" Peter hears Lois telling Jerome it's so hot and moist in a satisfied manner. Peter rushes into the kitchen to find Lois telling Jerome the scones he made are delicious.
  • Undergrads had Gimpy teaching his friends how to play a video game. It involved a joystick. He went on a long spiel on how to use the joystick, with Rocko falling over laughing.

Gimpy: You must master your joystick like a fisherman masters bait.

  • In the Phineas and Ferb episode "The Remains of the Platypus", there is a scene where it is made to look like Perry (who was transformed into a butler) was shaving Doofenshmirtz's groin area... except the camera zooms out and we see Doof with a towel and Perry is shaving his legs.

Other Media

  • A famous postcard had a nerdy guy next to an apparently blushing young woman: The text says, "Do you like Kipling? To which she responds "I don't know, you naughty boy, I've never kipled!"
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