Numbers

Double Take

A "double take" is a reaction to seeing or hearing something that on first encounter doesn't quite register and so the viewer or hearer looks back again.

How It's Used

“I’ve only been asked to sing once. I was waiting to meet some friends at a restaurant called Luna in Little Italy in New York. A couple walked in and did a double take when they saw me [mistaking me for Billy Joel, whom I resemble]. But they didn’t stay star-struck for very long.

“‘Will you play something for us?’ one of them asked.

“By now, I was tired of being mistaken for someone else. ‘For a hundred grand, I will,’ I said.”

“The morning after the Cleveland debate, [Chris] Matthews was walking through the airport to catch his flight home to Washington. People kept squinting at him, double-taking, stepping in and out of his monologue.”

"And let me say this, if Al Sharpton, Mike Bloomberg, and Newt Gingrich can agree that we need to solve the education problem, then that's something all of America can agree we can solve. (Applause.) Those guys came into my office. (Laughter.) Just sitting in the Oval Office—I kept on doing a double-take. (Laughter and applause.) So that's a sign of progress and it is a sign of the urgency of the education problem. (Applause.)"

"Like many other Icelanders, I did a sharp double-take at headlines that McDonald's, that bastion of American fast-food glory, had decided to wave bye-bye. So long, Iceland. Have a nice time piecing your country back together! According to reports, it symbolises a sharp fall from economic grace. Thing is, McDonald's isn't actually packing up and going home. The Icelandic owners of the franchise have decided to drop it. They will still run a burger joint in the same location, but under a different name, and using only domestic ingredients."

"The views through the floor-to-ceiling windows will remind you you're in New York. You may even see Kelly Ripa come out of her apartment down the street. But you'll do a double take at the size of the standard rooms: Mine held a giant bed with a bold fabric headboard, a sleek writing desk, two armchairs, a footstool and dresser. The marble bathrooms feature his and hers sinks and a roomy shower."

Links