Exact Words: Difference between revisions

 

{{quote|'''General Chang:''' You'll never take this city while I am alive, monster!

 

After attempting to establish rules or policies weighted in his favor, a character gets his comeuppance and learns [[An Aesop]] when the other characters twist those same rules against him. If it's a competition, it's because they left themselves open to [[Loophole Abuse]].

 

{{examples}}

* Cape Cod Potato Chips proudly advertises their low fat (6 g) chips as "40% reduced fat," and in tiny letters underneath, "compared to regular potato chips." This is entirely true—except that it's not ''their'' (kettle-cooked) "classic" chips (8 g) they're being compared with; it's ''Lay's'' and most (conveyor-cooked) store brands, which typically have 10 g fat and are, indeed, more "regular" to the average person's idea than kettle-cooked chips. By the same logic, they could sell their classic chips as "20% reduced fat."

* [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WV8APAXrhLM This] Swedish commercial has a young man ask his date if she wants to "taste the sausage". She's disappointed that he meant it literally.

* As [[Charlie Brooker]] has pointed out; wording in advertising is key. For example you can't say a toothpaste will "eliminate" plaque build up but will instead, "help fight". As you can fight a wall but you probably won't get far.

 

* In ''[[Eat Man]]'', the main character, [[Meaningful Name|Bolt Crank]], will often take jobs from clearly evil people, only to later exploit extremely literal wordings in his contracts to mess up his contractors. Case in point: Bolt takes a contract from a group of greedy people to protect a girl whose blood is a potion of youth for a certain period of time. Bolt protects her... from those exact people.

* ''[[Mahou Sensei Negima]]''

* In one episode of ''[[He Is My Master]]'', Izumi's youngest sister agreed to give the pervert Yoshitaka one thing he wanted. When he told her to wait until he decided what he wanted, she [[Crowning Moment of Funny|took this order for the thing he wanted]].

* In ''[[Dragon Ball]] Z'', for a Sayian to become a Super Saiyan their heart needs to be pure. Son-Goku, the protagonist, is the first to achieve this as he has not a speck of evil in his heart. Some time later his greatest rival Vegeta, a villain, also becomes a Super Saiyan since his heart is allegedly pure evil.

* ''[[Suicide Island]]'': In the first issue, patients who have attempted suicide are offered a choice to live on or die. A number of patients choose to die. They sign some papers and are put to sleep with drugs. HOWEVER, they wake regain consciousness and find themselves on the titular island. The patients find a sign nearby posted by the Japanese government saying that everyone on the island is now an [[Unperson]] and essentially "dead" to the government, and they can do whatever they want on this island, as long as they don't try to leave. Yep, the patients got more than they bargained for and you can be sure that they were unhappy when they found out the government pulled this trope on them!

 

{{quote|'''Mephisto:''' Your demise, Titan! ''(holds up Cosmic Cube)''

'''Thanos:''' ''(unaffected)''

** Then there was the time he said that two of his three Doombots were wired to explode. All three blow up. His response? "I never said the third one WASN'T explosive."

* [[Lobo]] is a man of his word. His very exact word. Don't piss him off.

* In one ''[[Mini Marvels]]'', some Skrulls take advantage of this. A policeman holding the Fantastic Four and Skrull impostors says that whoever can prove who's the real Fantastic Four will be released immediately. The Skrulls immediately admit that they're fakes and prove it by reverting to their true forms. The police officer holds to his exact words unquestioningly and lets them go.

* ''[[The Authority]]'': Midnighter knows [[Sociopathic Hero|alive and in one piece aren't the same thing.]]

* Common in many fairy tales where it concerns deals with the devil/leprechauns. The good, God-fearing farmer will get the better of the bad character using this trope.

 

{{quote|'''Harry:''' Wait... Didn't Draco order you not to try to save my life or to try and drive me from the castle?

'''Dobby:''' Dobby wasn't trying to save the Great Harry Potter's life nor was he trying to send him away from Hogwarts. Dobby was trying to break Harry Potter's arm. }}

'''Nesbitt:''' Then why did you--

'''Kaiba:''' ''I reconsidered.'' }}

* In the ''[[Glee]]'' fic ''[[Hunting the Unicorn]],'' a statement that Blaine made ("I've never been anyone's boyfriend") is played with in the most depressing manner possible: He really hasn't had a boyfriend before Kurt-- {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|he just thought he did]].}} And it was a ''disaster.''

* In ''[[The Tainted Grimoire]]'', Ewen only promised to let {{spoiler|Clan Gully}} leave the ''building'' alive.

 

* In ''[[Toy Story 2]]'', the Utility Belt Buzz says that to get through the vent leading to Al's apartment, he requests that Rex "use his head". [[Use Your Head|He means this literally, as the toys proceed to use Rex as a battering ram to burst into the room]] (Woody also unintentionally let it happen by not screwing them back in).

** From [[Toy Story (franchise)|the original]]: Woody's (initially harmless) attempt to supplant Buzz as his owner's favorite toy goes awry, and nearly kills Buzz. Buzz eventually catches up to Woody, and they have a chat:

* In ''[[Aladdin (Disney film)|Aladdin]]'' Aladdin uses this on the Genie "I never actually wished to get out of the cave".

* In ''[[The Sword in the Stone]]'', during the wizard's duel between Merlin and Mad Madam Mim, Mim sets among the rules: "No mineral or vegetable, only animals," and "No make-believe things, like, oh, pink dragons and stuff." She later turned into a ''purple'' dragon, saying, "Did I say no purple dragons? DID I?" Merlin beats her at her own game by turning into an animal... a germ, which infects Mim, causing her to become violently ill and lose the duel.

* ''[[The Princess and the Frog]]'': Dr. Facilier told Naveen that there was "green" in his future. Soon afterwards he turned Naveen into a frog.

** Later in the film, Mama Odie points out that while Naveen does indeed have to kiss a princess to break the spell, there is no requirement that the princess be born royalty; the girl only has to bear the title as is the case for Charlotte, Princess of the Mardi Gras parade.

* Rapunzel in ''[[Tangled]]'' is known not to break promises, which is part of the reason why she doesn't leave the tower in the first place. The promise she agrees to at the end of the song "Mother Knows Best" is "Promise me you'll never ''ask'' to leave this tower again".

* In ''[[The Lion King]]'', Simba asks whether he'll like the surprise at the ravine. Scar then tells Simba that the surprise "is something to die for." Let's just say that Scar was being perfectly honest about it being [[Deadly Euphemism|"something to die for."]]

* In ''[[Ever After (film)|Ever After]]'', Danielle and Henry are attacked by a band of marauding gypsies. They agree to let Danielle go, and she asks one favor—to be allowed to take anything that she can carry. They agree to her condition... and she promptly picks up Prince Henry. This act charms the gypsies, and they invite the pair to share their fire for the evening. They do, however, [[It Makes Sense in Context|keep her dress.]]

** That's based on a fairy tale where the princess tells the prince that if he should ever divorce her, he must allow her to carry three things out of the palace. When he tries, the first thing she carries out is her son, the second thing is her daughter, and the third thing is the prince himself, so he realizes that she still loves him and changes his mind.

* ''[[The Dark Knight Saga]]''

** [[The Joker]] has a variation of this. Whenever he promises that he's "[[I Gave My Word|a man of [his] word]]," he is as good as his word... and no further. For instance, when confronted with a huge pile of mob money that he had been tasked with retrieving, in return for half, he then proceeds to {{spoiler|set the said pile o' cash on fire}}. When confronted about this, he tells the Russian thug "I ''am'' a man of my word. {{spoiler|I'm only burning ''my'' half}}." Later, he makes a threat against Gotham City, promising that those who try to leave via the tunnels or bridges "will be in for a surprise." {{spoiler|[[Batman Gambit|The "surprise" turns out to be that he DIDN'T do anything with the bridges or the tunnels, and instead wanted to fool people into trying to get out of the city via the ferries, which he had rigged beforehand. Surprise -- the other ways out were safe!]]}} A man of his word indeed.

* Jason in ''[[Mystery Team]]''. He promises Kelly that he'll allow professionals to take the case... only to point out to his friends that their sign reads "[[Incredibly Lame Pun|Kitten Finding Purrrrfessionals]]".

* In ''[[Tron: Legacy]]'' this is effectively what drives the central antagonist, CLU. He was programmed with the directive to ''create the perfect system'' and this is ''exactly'' what he goes on to do.

* The 2011 ''[[Conan the Barbarian]]'' film includes our hero telling someone he's interrogating, "Speak, and I won't kill you." The bad guy in question's probably the only one who's surprised when Conan (after getting the info he wants) [[Do with Him as You Will|turns him over to the slaves he's been abusing.]]

* In ''[[Empire Records]]'', Joe orders Lucas not to leave the couch. Once Joe isn't looking, he walks away while carrying a cushion under his arm, since it's ''part'' of the couch.

* Part of King Brian's trickery in ''[[Darby O'Gill and the Little People|Darby O Gill and The Little People]]''. When Darby tries to show King Brian to Michael, Michael says he only sees a rabbit (and in fact, his POV only shows a little rabbit inside the bag). Darby wishes for Michael to be able to see Brian, to which Brian says the wish has been granted. Michael is able to see King Brian... [[Loophole Abuse|as a rabbit]].

** Iron Man is [[Genre Savvy]] enough to know that the Captain's choice of words was quite poor.

* In ''[[Practical Magic]]'', Sally discovers she cannot lie to detective Gary Hallet, and resorts to telling him the ''exact'' truth, phrased to sound like sarcasm and exaggeration.

{{quote|'''Gary:''' Did you or your sister kill James Angelov?

'''Sally:''' Yeah, a couple of times.}}

:(Literally and precisely true -- Gilly accidentally poisoned Angelov; they then resurrected him with magic, but when he [[Came Back Wrong]] they bludgeoned him (back) to death with a shovel.)

 

* ''[[Harry Potter (novel)|Harry Potter]]''

** This is the reason why Kreacher was able to get away with selling out Sirius Black to Bellatrix Lestrange without worrying about getting caught: Whenever Sirius gets irritated with Kreacher, he shouts at him to "GET OUT!" He failed to specify where he was supposed to go after leaving the house. Sirius is really going to wish he ate those words later on...

*** Harry, remembering this, subverts the trope in the next book. When he asks Kreacher to spy on Malfoy, he follows it up with a long list of further orders, forbidding Kreacher to let Malfoy know he's being followed, through direct or indirect means. Kreacher, realizing that Harry left no room for [[Loophole Abuse]], mutters "Master thinks of everything."

* The ''[[Amelia Bedelia]]'' series of books dealt with a maid who did everything she was told [[Literal-Minded|to the letter]].

* In Christopher Paolini's ''[[Inheritance Cycle]]'' saga, magic is mostly performed by weaving the spell in the Elven tongue, and the spell's effect is precisely that of the "order" given by the caster. {{spoiler|Eragon soon learns the hard way that making a spell without safety measures will make it take its effect even if it requires enough energy to kill the caster.}} His bad grammar once led to him literally [[Blessed with Suck|blessing a character with suck]].

* In Lee Lightner's ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' ''[[Space Wolf]]'' novel ''Sons of Fenris'', after Ragnar promised the Dark Angel Jeremiah that Cadmus was his to deal with, and then promised Cadmus that his life was his if he gave information, everyone else says his oaths conflict, and Cadmus says that he promised to let him go free. Ragnar says that he promised that his life was his. It was, and he had best start defending it.

* In [[Graham McNeill]]'s ''[[Warhammer 40,000]]'' ''[[Ultramarines (novel)|Ultramarines]]'' novel ''The Killing Ground'', Leodegarius tells Uriel that he will fight him and Pasanius and on the outcome, will determine their fate. When he has defeated them, he explains that victory would not have been [[Secret Test of Character|possible without the use of warp-based power;]] their defeat proves their innocence.

* [[J. R. R. Tolkien]]:

** In ''[[The Silmarillion]]'', Thingol promises to give Luthien to Beren [[Impossible Task|when the latter returns with a Silmaril in his hand]]. When Beren does return, the Silmaril is in his hand... which is in the stomach of the werewolf Carcharoth.

** The instructions for entering the West-gate of Moria: "[[Speak Friend and Enter]]". The password is literally the Elvish word for "friend."

* The title character of ''[[Ella Enchanted]]'' gets good at this in order to avoid pleasing anyone who would take advantage of her inability to disobey.

* In ''[[Fate/Zero]]'', Emiya Kiritsugu forms a contract that, if broken, causes the offender to lose all magecraft forever. He is not allowed to kill Lord El-Melloi or his fiancée, and El-Melloi must order Lancer to commit suicide and withdraw from the Grail War. With that done, he sends his partner after them to shoot them both. El-Melloi has some protection against bullets so he is wounded but doesn't die, and due to the contract Kiritsugu can't kill him. Eventually Saber has to step up for the [[Mercy Kill]].

* [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'':

** That's a debatable point. Carrot ''seems'' to be oblivious throughout several of the stories... and then you realize that that last comment could be taken a different way.

*** Given it was Carrot's first book, he probably ''was'' literally following Vimes' order. It's only later he gets more [[Genre Savvy]] about it.

** At another point, it's more or less answered when Carrot threatens to follow the order he was given before entering, should his detainee resist. He really doesn't ''want'' to follow the order, but he will if the detainee makes him... The order is to leave the detainee alone.

** The oath of the City Watch is used this way by Vimes, who notes that ruler after ruler has failed to notice "what a devious oath it is". The watchmen swear to uphold the laws and protect the public, but it never says one word about obeying orders or serving the ''ruler''.

*** In the same book, a number of people meet their end by saying, "I would rather die than xxx" to Cohen the Barbarian, who tends to take it at face value.

** Golems occasionally go crazy and repeat a task without end, causing chaos, because no one told them to stop. This is actually a form of rebellion against a stupid or inattentive master. When you have a tool that can think, you'd better treat it right, or it will find a way to screw you over.

** And then there was the time that the Auditors tried to bring about [[The End of the World as We Know It]], and Death pointed out that yes, he and his fellow horsemen did have to ride out, but ''against whom'' was not specified.

* In one ''[[Father Brown]]'' story, he says they have to get a certain man. Everyone takes it to mean that he's the murderer, until after his capture, when Father Brown protests that they need him as a ''witness''.

* In Randall Garrett's science-fiction story "The Best Policy", a man is captured by evil aliens who interrogate him with a device that can detect false statements. Unable to lie to the aliens, he is able to scare them away with technically true statements<ref>Example: He tells them that humans are capable of transporting their bodies from place to place by mentally channeling certain physical energies. He means walking; the aliens think he means teleportation.</ref> that give a false impression that humanity is [[Sufficiently Advanced Alien|an immensely ancient and powerful race]].

{{quote|"No," answered Gille.

Olvar squinted, thinking with an almost visible effort. "No? But I... No. You said just, no -- meaning no, there isn't ''some'' truth... Powers alive, man -- you're not trying to tell me it was ''all'' true, are you? Literally true?"}}

 

* ''[[The Brady Bunch]]'': In the episode "Greg Gets Grounded" (for disobeying his parents after borrowing someone else's car when he was put on a "no driving" punishment), Greg insists on living by "exact words," insisting that his parents' punishment was too ambiguous and unclear. Greg gets clobbered by the agreement and learns his lesson.

* In the first episode of ''[[Weeds]]'', the protagonist, in a conversation with her son's girlfriend's mother, is pressured into promising that the son and the girlfriend will never have sex under her roof. Fortunately for her son, his younger brother just broke their skylight, so said roof has a huge gaping hole in it...

** In fact, this quote is only the beginning of a long string of language loopholes surrounding this subplot. Almost any time he discusses the addiction, he conveniently leaves out any mention of heroin. He manages to give speeches that are completely truthful without raising suspicion.

* Once in ''[[White Collar]]'', [[Gentleman Thief|Neal]] borrows [[Reasonable Authority Figure|Peter's]] FBI jacket, swearing that he would not use it in any questionable activities. In the next scene, [[Mysterious Informant|Mozzie's]] wearing it and breaking into a crime scene.

* The title character of ''[[House (TV series)|House]]'' likes to use this trope to his own advantage, but occasionally someone will turn it against him. In "Sex Kills", as a last resort to obtain a heart for his patient, he uses emotional blackmail on the husband of a woman who died ten minutes ago. Enter the patient's daughter, who thanks the man for his generosity. Enter House, the [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold]]. "You're mad at me. Fine, I get that. Take it out on me, not on her." The husband nods tearfully, kicks House in the balls (''crunch'') and donates the heart.

* In the ''[[NCIS: Los Angeles]]'' episode "Bounty," the [[Killer Of The Week]], who was a Marine undercover agent who killed the victim of the week so he'd get the bounty to himself, had political immunity in America. However, that same political immunity did not apply within Afghanistan, the place he was native to, which the NCIS team later exploited in a sting to capture him by posing as some Afghanis, and later handed him off to his fellow teammates (who were presumably not too happy with him for murdering their leader) after locating the high-priority target he intended to gain 2 hours before he arrived.

'''Aunt Edie''': (reaching out and actually pressing Frankie's face) ''Hello? Hello?'' }}

 

 

* ''[[Dilbert]]''

** In a comic, the company is at thirty dollars a share when Dogbert offers to buy them, but their value promptly falls. Dogbert then offers to pay "the full thirty dollars" for their stock. They ended up selling him the entire stock for thirty dollars and not thirty dollars ''per share''.

She throws him back in his room. }}

* [[Garfield (Comic Strip)|Garfield]] is a master of this.

** Arguably his finest moment was [[Beach Episode|at the beach]], when Jon chastised him about burying Odie in the sand. Garfield defends himself by claiming that "I only buried him up to his knees." [http://www.garfield.com/comics/vault.html?yr=1980&addr=800814 Upside-down.]{{Dead link}}

{{quote|'''Lanolin''': I have a biiiiiig mouth.}}

** Also, when Orson was trying to sleep but Bo was constantly chatting. Orson then asked if Bo would like a pillow for his head. As Bo accepted, Orson stuck Bo's head inside it.

** Michael was saving up his allowance for a pair of roller skates. He ended up spending the money he had saved up to that point, and when he told Elly, she just said, "Money seems to burn a hole in your pockets." Cue Michael and Elizabeth fearfully checking his pockets to make sure they were all right.

 

* In one confrontation between [[Vince McMahon]] and [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]] in 2007, Stone Cold promises not to use The Stunner on Vince, then proceeds to kick Vince in the nuts and Stunner Jonathan Coachman.

* During a [[TNA]] iMPACT Knockout Battle Royal for the #1 contender for the Knockouts title, Madison Rayne gets in the ring and announces that "any of the Knockouts in the ring right now" were eligible to be the #1 contender. True to form, she rushes in at the end of the match and throws Velvet Sky from the ring.

* [[Triple H]] lost the WWF Title to [[Chris Jericho]] when referee Earl Hebner made a fast count. When confronted about this decision, he agreed to reverse it if nobody would touch him as long as he was a WWF official. Triple H [[False Reassurance|agreed]], [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oSrUjlleU0Y noting he is a man of his word.]

 

=== Board Games ===

* In ''[[Risk]]'', half the fun of negotiating treaties is trying to see how many [[Loophole Abuse|loopholes]] you can work into the wording without your new "ally" noticing and objecting.

** An interesting side-effect of Equip Spell Cards that give Piercing, is that you can inflict damage to your opponent by equipping them to your opponent's monster(s). Then, when your opponent attacks one of your Defense Position monsters with an ATK greater than your monsters DEF, he/she will take the difference. After all, even though it's '''your''' opponent's monster, it's your Spell Card, and thus it's your opponent—not ''you''—who takes the extra damage, due to the wording on the cards.

** Some continuous card effects have linkage to another monster cards such as [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Future_Fusion Future Fusion] and [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Call_of_the_Haunted Call of the Haunted]. However, when the monster is removed from field other than being destroyed, the continuous effect card remains on the field meaninglessly.

** Another card that deserves special mention is [http://yugioh.wikia.com/wiki/Question Question]. The card states that the opposing player must remember the name of the first monster card on the bottom of his/her opponent's graveyard or it gets special summoned to the field. This was fairly jarring if your opponent enforced including prefixes such as if the monster's card name began with "The" (Many a Six Samurai deck comes to mind.) or enforces his/her own specific pronunciation of the card's name.

** Many cards say to destroy the ''card'' under a certain condition, rather than the gameplay element it represents (monster, spell, trap, etc.) Cue many beginner players literally ripping up the card when the conditions are met.

** A common mistake most beginners make is the difference between "destroying" a card and "negating" a card. The former simply means the card no longer exists on the field, the latter means it's effects are stopped until the negating effect ends. This means that playing something like Mystical Space Typhoon on a activated counter trap card is meaningless, as it's effect is already in motion and it would go to the graveyard regardless anyways. Likewise, simply Negating the effect of a continuous card without destroying it is moot, as the effect would resume as soon as the negation card is gone.

 

=== Game Books ===

* In the [[Role-Playing Game]] ''Truce at Bakura'', Chewbacca suggested to Han Solo that he have the Tydirium return to the fleet while doing repairs. Han Solo agreed, but then it occurred to him that Chewbacca forgot to specify which fleet he was supposed to return to, thus giving him and the Endor Strike Team an easy opening to take over the Star Destroyer Accusor without having to fire a single shot.

 

* In ''[[Show Boat]]'', the couple Steve and Julie are about to be arrested for miscegenation—Steve is white, and Julie is [[Pass Fail|secretly mixed-race]]. Steve cuts Julie's hand and swallows a drop of blood; when the sheriff arrives, Steve asks, "You wouldn't call a man a white man that's got Negro blood in him, would you?" He's willing to swear under oath that he's got "more than a drop" of black blood; the two are able to leave the boat (and the south) in safety.

 

* Eikichi, alias Captain Death, in ''[[Persona 2]]'', is pitted against an enemy who has spread rumors saying he's stronger than Captain Death. Given [[City of Adventure|Sumaru City]]'s special properties, this becomes true. So Eikichi rescinded his title, meaning the idiot [[Oh Crap|no longer had to deal with Captain Death, but]] ''[[Oh Crap|Eikichi Mishina]]''. Asskicking ensued, with Eikichi proving ''why'' he was his school's premier badass.

* In ''[[Sonic the Hedgehog (2006 video game)|Sonic the Hedgehog 2006]]'', Mephiles told Silver that the Iblis Trigger (Sonic) was going to destroy the world. He never said exactly ''how'' it was going to destroy the world...

* The ending of the recent [[Ghost Recon]] game, Future Warrior, has this. The main villain of the game {{spoiler|is wounded and ready to be killed by the Ghosts but sudden orders from command reveal that the American Government wants to keep him alive and that he is "not to be touched." Moments later a train happens to be coming his way and he pleads to the Ghosts to take him into American custody as per their orders. Their response? "Our orders were not to touch you." He gets splattered by the train and then the credits start immediately after he dies.}} Poor choice of words.

 

* On ''[[Homestar Runner]]'', in the Strong Bad E-mail "virus", Strong Bad's computer gets infested with hundreds of thousands of computer viruses that [[Breaking the Fourth Wall|apparently infect the Flash cartoon itself]]. That leads to this exchange, in which Strong Sad catches Strong Bad doing this:

{{quote|'''Strong Sad:''' Did you get a virus?

'''Strong Bad:''' Yes... very yes! }}

 

* Randall Munroe of ''[[xkcd]]'' apparently does ''not'' like it when people try this on him. Black Hat Guy shares his distaste in [https://xkcd.com/169/ this] [[Indulgent Fantasy Segue]].

* ''[[The Order of the Stick]]''

** Roy had once asked an oracle where Xykon currently was, and had received the Exact Words answer "on his throne". When he later returns to the same oracle, he [http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0331.html deliberately forms his question to be as immune to twisting as possible]. Ironically, however, this makes him receive a ''worse'' answer, because his phrasing of the question had limited Xykon's next attack to one of two possible locations, and Xykon had chosen to [[Take a Third Option]]. The Oracle tried to get Roy to word his question in a way that would allow him to give the proper answer, but Roy was having none of it. The very next strip has Elan [[The Ditz|of all people]] pointing out Roy's error...but moments later the party triggers the [[Laser-Guided Amnesia|Memory Charm]] around the Oracle's tower so that the only thing they remember from the visit with the Oracle was the answers he gave to their specific questions. Thus eliminating the advance warning they would've otherwise had of Xykon's imminent attack.

{{quote|'''The Oracle:''' "Yes, you've certainly managed to cunningly outsmart yourself at the very least."}}

** In other words, Sarda didn't create a spell that makes ''the target'' vomit up its digestive tract. He created a spell that makes ''Black Mage'' vomit up his digestive tract. [[Hoist by His Own Petard|Even if it's Black Mage casting the spell.]] Sarda later [http://www.nuklearpower.com/2009/05/23/episode-1131-turnabout-isnt-fair-play/ does something similar with a reality-altering spell]. It's not so much a spell to alter reality as ''the caster'' sees fit, as to alter reality as ''Sarda'' sees fit.

* The author of ''[[Misfile]]'' once posted to the forums: "Emily is not a lesbian. Ash does not like boys." As [[Genre Savvy]] as the forum is, he may as well have posted "Em is bi" then and there, back when it [[Transparent Closet|wasn't so obvious from the strip]].

* ''[[Evil Diva (webcomic)|Evil Diva]]'': [https://web.archive.org/web/20110629223540/http://www.evildivacomics.com/?p=839 Diva's mom tweaks this to insinuate that Loki might know something.]

* ''[[Roza]]'' [http://www.junglestudio.com/roza/?date=2008-07-21 "I didn't follow you, I followed the goat."] (Which follows her.)

* Doc Scratch from ''[[Homestuck]]''. He prides himself on never lying (except in the short term, in service of a joke), but he's still deceptive. He deceives by strongly implying things, abusing hypothetical terms, and presenting just enough information to lead his marks to the wrong conclusion—while none of his direct statements are ever incorrect. In other words, Scratch lies through omission frequently—and when questioned about this, he smugly claims that said concept is a "human" one since mortals can never be in possession of ''all'' information and that everyone who talks to him "asks the wrong questions". Such is his talent with this that {{spoiler|he successfully tricks [[The Smart Guy|Rose]] into not destroying the Green Sun, but ''creating'' it in the first place, and she doesn't even realise it until it's created}}.

* A Demoness in ''[[Goblins]]'' uses this when offering a [[Deal with the Devil]]; she claims to be the guardian of the [[MacGuffin|Orb of Bloodlight]], and offers a trade of 'one soul for one orb'. Dies-Horibly offers up himself for the bargain, and is given an a non-magical orb made of ordinary blue stone instead. The demon gloats that Dies should have specified which orb he wanted when the deal was made.

* ''[[Girl Genius]]'' had a professor (who pulled Agatha into this mess in the first place) who after overseeing safe removal of the stolen Castle Heterodyne node from all city systems (it did indeed help itself to pretty much all by that time). Then tries to send her away without information she wants and receives an immediate reminder that his own teleoperator bodies, being his private property, are officially not "city systems"...

{{quote|'''Agatha''': ([[Cheshire Cat Grin|grinning]]) Who's a very ''very'' clever little thing who's learned ''so much?!''

 

* When [[The Nostalgia Critic]] gathers his fellow reviewers for an invasion in ''[[Kickassia]]'', [[Phelous]] questions where everyone was going to stay. Critic says that he "booked everyone a hotel room". [[Gilligan Cut]] to everyone crammed into '''a''' hotel room.

{{quote|'''Phelous:''' [[Lampshade Hanging|Well, gee, I didn't see]] ''[[Lampshade Hanging|that]]'' [[Lampshade Hanging|one coming.]]}}

** The first to be chosen is {{spoiler|Aphrodite's own son Eros, who finds love at first sight with Psyche.}}

** The second is {{spoiler|Hephaestus, Aphrodite's ''husband'', who meets Aglaea. Aphrodite is more than happy to let him go.}}

* In ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'' Lopez builds some very slow moving robots, with the reasoning

{{quote|'''Senior Lopez''' "You said you wanted a DAY of victory. At this speed, they will win in exactly 24 hours." }}

* In ''[[The Questport Chronicles]]'', the Fellowship forces a demon to swear that he will lead them to [[Eldritch Location|a specific place]]. They neglect to make him promise to bring them back...

{{quote|33. Not allowed to chew gum at formation, unless I brought enough for everybody.

34. (Next day) Not allowed to chew gum at formation even if I ''did'' bring enough for everybody.

* ''[[Bastard Operator From Hell]]''. If you ask the BOFH for more disk space, he'll give it to you - by deleting all your files. And that's nothing compared to what he does with his contract. It got "[http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/07/14/bofh_2006_episode_23/ numerous strange clauses]", including one about "remaining at work after a UFO sighting in the vicinity of the building"... which he successfully used... more than once.

 

* In one episode of ''[[Rugrats]]'', Angelica pushes Chuckie out of the way of an oncoming Big Wheel. Chuckie interprets this as having saved his life, and Angelica tells him that, once someone saves your life, you have to be their slave. At the end of the episode, Angelica is stuck in a closet, Chuckie frees her, and Angelica gushes that he saved her life. Chuckie points out what that means, and while Angelica tries to backtrack, in the final scene, we see her muttering as she drives Chuckie around.

* ''[[The Simpsons (animation)|The Simpsons]]''

* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]''

** In ''Justice League Unlimited'', a villain torturing [[The Question]], a first-order conspiracy nut, repeatedly orders him to "Tell me what you know." The answers he gets include: [[Who Shot JFK?|"There ''was'' a magic bullet. It was forged by Illuminati mystics to prevent us from learning the truth"]], and "[[What the Heck Is An Aglet?|The plastic tips at the ends of shoelaces are called aglets.]] [[Crowning Moment of Funny|Their true purpose is sinister.]]"

* In ''[[Transformers Animated]]''

{{quote|'''Issac Sumdac:''' You are friends with the autobots, right?

* ''[[Jackie Chan Adventures]]'': Favored by Jade to slip out of [[Wait Here]]. Also when she's told to stay with Uncle. Since Jackie never specified which "Uncle"... And, in "The Stronger Evil", when Jackie and Capt. Black went to stop the Dark Hand from robbing the armored car, they wouldn't even let Jade finish asking to go with them and quickly yelled "NO!" Since she never stated what she'd ask, they can't tell what they told her not to do. Also in that same episode, Jade had tried to operate a jet-powered chair, prompting Jackie to tell her not to operate machines she doesn't know how they work. She then asked the inventor to tell her how the chair works.

* ''[[American Dad]]'': "I said no more 'candid' pics! I love semantics. Wordplay. Who am I talking to?"

** Before the final challenge in "May The Best Pet Win", Rainbow Dash sets down the win condition: her pet will be the one that "crosses the finish line with [her]", her assumption being that due to her speed, she'll be the first across. Following an avalanche that pins her wing under a rock, she ends up crossing the finish line {{spoiler|''last'', on the back of a tortoise. Her friends inform her that a falcon won, but by now Rainbow Dash is attached to the tortoise... so she points out that while the falcon might have crossed ''first'', the tortoise (due to carrying her) crossed ''with'' her. The falcon takes it [[Graceful Loser|quite well]].}}

* ''[[Garfield and Friends|U.S. Acres]]'' episode "The Ugly Duckling", Orson was telling Booker and Sheldon a version of said fairy tale. That version had Bo as a wizard who worked at a bar. Whatever you do, you must never ask him something like "Make me a sandwich". [[Literal Genie|He'll turn you into one.]]

* This is how Coop got a hold of ''[[Megas XLR]]''. The junkyard dealer wanted to get Coop out of his hair and told him everything in a certain pile was two bucks. When Coop accidentally discovers the wrecked remains of the titular mech:

* In ''[[Trollhunters]]'', when the Gumm-Gumms realize that the only way to open the [[Hell Gate| Killahead Bridge]] is for a Trollhunter to do it, they kidnap Blinky and use him as a hostage, sending Jim a ransom note specifically saying to come alone. Jim follows this order to the letter and does indeed come alone - wearing a tracking device so his allies can easily find him once the viilains take him to where the Bridge is stored. The ransom note never said he couldn't do ''that.''

 

* A standard method of teaching a lesson to a brand new military officer (who usually has less experience and time in service than most of his or her subordinates), who insists on their orders being followed and [[With Due Respect|not listening to the advice of said subordinates]], is to follow their orders ''exactly''. One would be amused, for example, at the number of tanks that have to be hauled out of mud that the driver never would have normally gone into if not "Just following your orders, sir."

** In the military, this is referred to as "white mutiny".

* Although his political enemies and critics claimed [[Bill Clinton]] committed perjury in answering questions during a depositions, objective review of what he said shows that, legally, he did not. When it came to the question of whether he had sex with Monica Lewinsky, he was being truthful in saying he did not, based on the definition of "sex" that had been previously agreed upon by the attorneys — which, upon careful reading, did not include fellatio performed on him, only oral sex if he performed it on someone else. Even the famous cigar incident didn't count because the definition didn't include him using an object on someone else.

** When he was asked if he was having an affair with Lewinsky, he truthfully denied it. The phrasing of the question asked if anything sexual was going on, not if anything sexual ''had'' gone on in the past (the affair was over by then).

**** Although as trial defense attorneys will note, when you swear to tell the truth you do ''not'' also volunteer to correct a hostile questioner's badly phrased question if answering what was meant to be asked could harm your case. This is one of the reasons good lawyers will often ask essentially the same question in different ways.

**** According to the unanimous decision of the United States Supreme Court decision in ''[https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/409/352/case.html Bronston v. United States]'', answers to proper interrogatories that are "literally truthful but technically misleading" ''cannot'' give rise to a perjury prosecution. The proper remedy is, indeed, for the examiner to ask clarifying followup questions.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Double Meaning Tropes]]

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:Plots]]