“Looking Down On People Since 1903” Conveys Double Meaning

The coffee mug featuring the word, “Pilots,” above the sketch of an airplane that appears to be in flight above the message, “Looking Down On People Since 1903,” represents the duplicity of the English language.

While pilots have literally been looking down on people from their aircrafts since the Wright Brothers, Orville and Wilbur Wright, first flew a heavier-than-air-controllable aircraft on Dec. 17, 1903, the term is a double entendre.

“Looking down on people” is an expression commonly used to elevate oneself to a position of superiority by viewing others as inferior for some reason.

For example, a person with a college education may become a supercilious person by “looking down on those who do not have a college education.”

A supercilious person is one who behaves as though the opinions, ideas, and thoughts of others are inferior and lack value.

The word, “supercilious” originates from Latin in the 16th century. It is derived from the word “supercilious,” which means haughty.

The word pertains to human anatomy, the eyebrow. One who raises one’s eyebrow to “look down on others,” is haughty.

The English language as it is today has been heavily influenced by Latin, and double meanings can be expressed in figurative language via the use of a pun or a double entendre.

In a pun, the writer poses something literal, often in the form of a question. For example, “Why did the dentist join the army?” The answer is a play on words, “He joined the army because he likes to drill.”

Thus, the word “drill” takes on a double meaning.

In a James Bond movie, Bond is attacked by an assassin in his hotel room, and after Bond knocks his attacker into a bathtub filled with water, he quickly throws an electronic devise into the bathtub, electrocuting the villain.

Turning away from the dead man, Bond quips, “Shocking!”

Screenplay writers for the Bond movies have often relied on a double entendre that often has a risqué or indecent meaning.

When the screenwriter does not wish to communicate the meaning literally, the double entendre is a writing tool easily employed.

While thousands of pilots literally look down on people as they travel above the Earth, pilots are known for not looking down on their passengers.