I Am One of Those, Too: Difference between revisions

 

This situation can be part of a [[Spot the Imposter|Spot]] or [[Bluff the Impostor]] scene. See also [[Because I'm Jonesy]], which is going one step further: an impostor meets the very person he's masquerading as. If it actually works, consider [[Seamless Spontaneous Lie]].

 

== [[Film]] ==

* Somewhat related is the whole Winchestertonfieldsville scene in ''[[Mr. Deeds]]'', in which every lie Winona Ryder's character makes up about her childhood ends up actually existing.

'''Questioner:''' Oh, you mean Christian Life Center?

'''You:''' That's the one. }}

* Used by [[Sherlock Holmes]] in the short story ''The Three Garridebs'', in which he tests his suspicions of a con man posing as American by casually asking after the nonexistent mayor of the con man's claimed Kansas 'hometown'.

* A joke found in an issue of ''Readers' Digest'' (and possibly a real incident) referred to a man who liked to pretend he'd had the same operations that other people had been through so that he could share in their complaints. Eventually carelessness resulted in a pair of women asking him, "Really. When did you have your hysterectomy?"

* Used and played with in [[Josepha Sherman]]'s ''The Shattered Oath''. A prince of the Sidhe has been exiled into ~9th century AD Ireland, claiming to be an exiled prince from Cathay (China). Naturally a trader who's been in Cathay comes calling. Played with because, even then, China was a huge country. Ardagh, the prince, cannot answer the trader's questions...but the trader, who does know how big Cathay is (generally at least), also has to admit to not knowing how to answer Ardagh's questions, nor having heard of his family or even dialect (actually the Sidhe tongue).

* In the first [[Confessions of Georgia Nicolson|Georgia Nicolson book]], Georgia walks up to a cute guy on the street, pretending to have a limp, and starts speaking to him in fake French ([[It Makes Sense in Context]]... or, well, as much sense as [[Cloudcuckoolander|Georgia]] ever makes). The guy, in an attempt to help her, leads her to a restaurant nearby whose waitresses speak French.

 

* For complicated reasons Monica in ''[[Friends]]'' has claimed her name to be Monana, which she also claims is Dutch. Too bad the person she's trying to deceive is from the Netherlands, and starts speaking in Dutch. At least Monica can recover from this amazement by specifying Pennsylvania Dutch instead.

** A variation is used when for complicated reasons Ross is at the wedding reception for complete strangers and is posing for a picture at the rostrum. People start clinking their glasses to demand a speech. Ross pretends to be working for the hotel, saying that a certain car will be towed. A guy rushes up nervously. He has that ''exact'' make, model, and color of car. What are the odds?

** Watson then remarks in clear English something like "what are the odds?" causing the German to immediately realize he's a British spy.

* On an episode of ''[[The Drew Carey Show]]'', Oswald is pretending to be German while talking to a bartender to see if she cheats him. She immediately says she was born in Germany and starts talking to him in German. He then says he is actually from a small town France called Germany. She then says she went to school in France for several years and starts speaking French.

 

== [[Music]] ==

* A skit by Lorne Elliott tells the story of a St Patrick's Night gig where an angry audience member demanded that he play ''Danny Boy'' - which he didn't know the words to. In a desperate effort to placate him, he announces that he will sing Danny Boy in the original Gaelic - and [[As Long as It Sounds Foreign|sings nonsense syllables to the tune]]. "Turns out he spoke fluent Gaelic..."

 

== [[Radio]] ==

* ''[[Adventures in Odyssey]]'': Happens to Monica when she poses as Missions Board intern Paula Jarvis. Walter is from near the real Paula's town and first realizes "Paula" is hiding something by asking her about phony details about it like the "annual blueberry festival."

 

* In the musical ''[[Anything Goes]]'', the mobster Moonface Martin sneaks onto the cruise ship that the play takes place on in the disguise of a minister. He then runs into a real minister not five minutes later. Being a "clever" man, he tries to deflect suspicion from the minister by claiming to be from somewhere far away, and settles on China. Guess where the real minister practices?

* In the opera ''[[Die Fledermaus]]'' by Johann Strauss II, two characters pretend to be French at a ball in Vienna. This results in an exchange of [[Gratuitous French|simple phrases and nonsense]] before the other characters insist they speak German. Later, they share a brief duet with the chorus 'Merci, merci, merci.'

* The short play ''The Old Lady Shows Her Medals'', by J. M. Barrie, creator of ''[[Peter Pan]]'', is a variant: Mrs. Dowey has pretended that her son Kenneth is a member of the Black Watch regiment serving in [[World War I]]. But she has no son; she simply saw the name of Private Kenneth Dowey in a newspaper article, and claimed he was her son in order not to be lorded over by those of her neighbors who '''do''' have sons in the service. Then an acquaintance brings Private Dowey, who's on leave, to the old woman. Since he has no living family, and he sees she's not doing this to collect government benefits or the like, he agrees to [[Secret Keeper|play along]] and spend his leave with "his mother." Shortly after he returns to the front, she sees another newspaper report: he's been killed in action.

 

== [[Web Comics]] ==

* In ''[[Terror Island]]'', Stephen makes up the name "Ned Q. Sorcerer, D.D.S." on the spot when attempting to crash a class reunion at Center of the Earth University. The ''real'' Mr. Sorcerer shows up a few strips later (but is catapulted away.) Stephen must later do a presentation in front of all the university alumni entitled "Ned Q. Sorcerer answers trivia questions about his life." He attributes the real Ned showing up to bilocation.

* In ''[[Gorgeous Princess Creamy Beamy]]'' the alien "X" Hoshibana claims to be from USA. He [http://creamybeamy.comicgenesis.com/d/20071015.html eventually realizes] he should have picked a more obscure nation as his fake background.

 

== [[Western Animation]] ==

'''Stewie''': Yes yes, you too. Oh and if you see Arnie, tell him 'boogity boogity boo.' He'll know what it means. }}

* In the ''[[Pinky and The Brain]]'' episode "My Feldmans, My Friends", the Brain attempts to persuade his neighbour that "Mr The Brain" was his high school nickname by inserting his picture into a high school yearbook. The high school he picks happens to be the one his neighbour attended, so Brain is left trying to convince his neighbour that they were, in fact, classmates.

 

== [[Real Life]] ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Narrative Devices]]

[[Category:I Am an Index]]

[[Category:Truth and Lies]]