MovieChat Forums > The Postman Always Rings Twice (1946) Discussion > When she said 'I'll end up back as the h...

When she said 'I'll end up back as the hash house'...

posted 11 years ago by jimbrown257
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When they were first leaving the dinner (the time she left the note saying she was in love with Frank), Cora starts having second thoughts. When wondering what will happen to them, she says, "I'll just end up back at the hash house."

Now "Hash House" was slang at that time for a roadside diner like the one she was at.

But that's not what she meant in that line when she said "hash house", right? That was like one of those 40s movie entendres where she used one innocuous word but was referring to something else (something The Code wouldn't allow to be said directly).

Am I correct that she was talking about going back to another type of h-house?

[–] WarpedRecord 11 years ago

Interesting point. Perhaps she was circumventing the Code by referring to a different type of h-house (or, in the old-fashioned spelling, w-house), but I didn't read as much into it. I just assumed she said she'd go back to slinging hash – the kind you eat, not smoke. But those nuances are the beauty of these films.

[–] moosefeathers 8 years ago

Sometimes a cigar is just a cigar. She meant slinging hash at a diner.

Swing away, Merrill....Merrill, swing away...