Dave's ESL Cafe's Student Discussion Forums

[imchongjun]

Hello teachers.
I have trouble understanding the following passage from a pulp fiction, and I appreciate it very much if you could explain.

(The detective Doan was invited to the client's(=Sheila Alden's) house. The client was killed in her bedroom, but when Doan went down to the dark cellar, he found the real Sheila Alden locked in there.)

"Ah," said Doan blankly. He drew a deep breath. "Well, I know I'm not drunk, so this must be happening. If you're Sheila Alden down here in the cellar, who's the Sheila Alden up in the bedroom?"
"That's my secretary, Leila Adams. She's been impersonating me."
"Oh. Sort of a game, huh?"
"No!"
"Well, I was just asking. What's the matter with the light down here?"
"I screwed the bulb out of the socket."
"Well, where is it? I'll screw it back in again. I need some light on the subject."

I am not sure what Doan means by "I need some light on the subject". I understand the cellar is dark, and he wants light, but what does "on the subject" part mean?

[Lorikeet]

There is an expression we use, "shed some light on the subject," which means something like "give some information about the subject." (There are 84,000 google hits for this expression, so I think you can say it is commonly used.) I think in this case, he is using a double meaning, and making a little joke. He needs to find out what's going on, and maybe she can "shed some light on the subject" and he also needs the lightbulb so it won't be dark.

[imchongjun]

Thank you, Lorikeet, for your clear explanation!! Double meanings and puns are very difficult to understand for English learners.