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Double-edged sword

Posted by Barry McMurdock on November 09, 2005

'Double-edged sword' - I've read various explanations as to the meaning of this idiom and of its origin, but I am of the opinion that the common understanding must be a corruption of any sensible meaning. As a method of using metaphor well, one should always create a mental image, and it is clear to me that having a double-edged sword in my hand allows a telling blow in two directions and is therefore a double advantage of harm:harm over a single-edged sword, not one producing the potential for opposite results i.e. harm:heal. We use the idiom 'mixed blessing' to identify something which has benefits and drawbacks concurrently, and I would like to persuade all to use this and make the use of 'double-edged sword' to mean 'two ways to be effective' I would also like many of the people who use words like 'enervate' and 'hoi polloi' together with all the other words which are assumed to mean one thing by presumed root or sound, but which mean the opposite, to look them !
up in a dictionary!

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