A Two-Faced Promo

Before you back up a statement, back up and think.

I’m still getting back into the swing of things after my vacation, and I’ll repeat my usual statement when I get a bit overwhelmed: if I owe you correspondence, you’ll get it today. I’ll be going down my email list and checking off everything this afternoon and evening, and writing up some stuff for the coming week.

I tried to limit my consumption of any kind of news while I was away, but one item did cross my desk: DC Comics’ latest “initiative,” known as “All In.”

I won’t get into the specifics of it, many of which are not yet known—though it seems like it’s mostly just the kind of alternate-universe shenanigans that DC can never get enough of. What amused me the most, though, was the title. All in has two meanings, and they’re more or less contradictory. I’m sure we’re meant to read it in the spirit of the first meaning, but…

Word lovers talk about contronyms, individual words that contain opposite meanings, such as “cleave” (split or adhere), “dust” (sprinkle with particles or remove particles from), and “overlook” (survey from above or ignore). It’s not as well known that phrases like “all in” and “back up” (retreat or support) can be contronymous, and it all depends on context which meaning one reads.

Even sentences can carry this sort of double meaning: when Daffy Duck says “I want what I deserve!”, it’s a bit of a wink between the scriptwriter and the audience. Daffy thinks he deserves riches and praise: we know he deserves the comeuppance he’s about to receive.

When my little brother and I were kids, we used to try to poke holes in the language of TV commercials. We would have had a lot of fun with “All In.”

Testing your own writing for such multiple meanings can be revealing. If there’s an unflattering interpretation of your words to be had, you might be assuming too much about the generosity of your audience.

Next: A reading list!