Cover Identity Anomaly: Difference between revisions
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{{quote|'''Homer''': Hello, [[Paper-Thin Disguise|my name is Mr. Burns]]. I believe you have a letter for me.
'''Postal Worker''': Okay. What's your first name, Mr. Burns?
'''Homer''': ([[Beat]])...I don't know!
|''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''}}
This trope is when a character, in disguise or otherwise pretending to be someone else, doesn't know some basic piece of information about who they're pretending to be. This could be because they didn't research the identity enough, or maybe the disguise and cover identity were done in a rush and they didn't think all the way through.
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Compare [[Stereo Fibbing]], for when two characters have to make up a lie on the spot to get out of this situation.
{{examples}}
== [[Comic Books]] ==▼
* In the early 1990s ''[[Spider-Man]]'' arc where Peter Parker's parents returned from the dead, May realized they were imposters when they refer to the wrong date for their anniversary, indicating that they somehow didn't know about their secret wedding several months prior.▼
== [[
* Averted in ''[[Toy Story (franchise)|Toy Story]] 3''. Barbie uses an astronaut suit to disguise herself as Ken to talk with the Bookworm. The suit covers her head and face, and almost her whole body...except her feet, and she forgot to change her high heels, which the Bookworm sees as she walks away. Fortunately, the Bookworm dismisses the high heels as one of [[The Dandy|Ken's idiosyncrasies]].
* The title character of ''[[Mulan]]'' does this when asked her name. Her family name (which she must use as part of the cover story) is Fa, but she hasn't thought of a ''personal'' name, leading to a very awkward conversation where Mushu tries to secretly help her come up with a name.
** One of his suggestions is [[Punny Name|Ah Chu]].
▲== [[Comic Books]] ==
▲* In the early 1990s ''[[Spider-Man]]'' arc where Peter Parker's parents returned from the dead, May realized they were imposters when they refer to the wrong date for their anniversary, indicating that they somehow didn't know about their secret wedding several months prior.
* Played with in the movie ''[[Superbad]]'', where one of the teenage kids gets a terrible fake ID that only has the name "McLovin".
* In ''[[Romy and Michele's High School Reunion]]'' they are pretending to be "successful businesswomen" to impress people. It is only when a waitress asks them what business they are in that they realise they may have neglected a vital element of their cover story.
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== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Skulduggery Pleasant]]''. Scapegrace has a problem that causes him to invent a twin brother, of course he gets every detail right and thinks of everything....except one of the names.
* In ''[[
** They asked the Ravenclaw where the common room was, and were lead there by Draco. They had an [[Oh Crap]] moment when Draco asked them the password, but were saved when Draco remembered it before they did. Other instances of them being out of character for Crabbe and Goyle are when Harry didn't know what Azkaban was and when both of them forgot to laugh at a ''Daily Prophet'' article where Ron's dad gets in trouble with the Ministry.
** In the movie, Harry almost gives it away by still wearing his glasses. He quickly excuses them as reading glasses, causing Malfoy to remark that he didn't know "Goyle" knew how to read.
** [[Chekhov's Gun|The specific example of the location of the Slytherin common room comes up again]] in ''[[
* [[Alex Rider]] very nearly gets himself killed because of these.
== [[Live
* The British comedy series ''[[Spaced]]'' features Tim and Daisy, who are pretending to be a couple in order to rent an apartment. Though they attempt to be as thorough as possible by learning a multitude of mundane details about each other ("I forgot what you got for your fifth birthday!" "Miniature drum kit"), they get caught in their lie while fumbling around regarding what day they had sex first vs. what day they kissed first.
** A much worse mistake is barely averted as, just before they go in, they realize they've never learned each other's names.
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* This is the point of "Security Questions" on websites when you need to reset your password; they're intended to foil someone pretending to be you, by asking questions that only you should know the answer to.
** Some places invert this and actually advise you to put something that is completely wrong(but that nobody would guess) as the answer, for example if the question is "What is your birthday?" put "Puppy", so that if the pretender does find out your info they can't get into your accounts.
* Standard tradecraft for spies when communicating is, to give a hint to their controllers if someone was faking their communications, to have a subtle challenge code that, assuming the spy hadn't gone full [[Double Agent]], would be something the faker wouldn't be able to respond correctly to or even realize they were expected to respond to. The same principle was used for dead-drops: often a legitimate drop required some subtle thing at ''another'' location to
**Like all things this is not infallible. Noor Inayat Khan, [[Religious Bruiser|daughter of a Sufi master]] and [[Badass Princess|descendant]] of a famous [[Warrior Prince]] was radiowoman to an [[SOE]] ring in France. The spy ring was penetrated but she kept broadcasting long after she knew she was certain to be detected to make sure London knew that her system was compromised. Which indeed won her the George Cross. However when the Germans finally found her they took her by surprise in her ad-hoc safehouse and overcame her to quickly to for her to destroy the equipment. Unfortunately they captured enough of it that they did not really need her cooperation. And the Germans were able to imitate her for some time before London gave her up for lost.
* One quick check used in stores to challenge customers who appear too young for the purchase (typically alcohol and/or cigarettes) and might have a fake ID is to ask what year they were born. Someone faking their age is likely to trip up and give their actual birth year or obviously have to stop and think about what year they would have had to have been born to be legal.
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