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Compare with [[Not Himself]], contrast with [[Something Only They Would Say]] (in which a character is identified by a characteristic) and [[Bluff the Impostor]].
{{examples}}
== [[Advertising]] ==
* In an early '70s TV commercial for the short-lived Cap'n Crunch variant ''Vanilly Crunch'', the good captain's ship is approached by Wilma the Whale, the mascot for that cereal. After the captain does a description of the cereal, he shoots a cannon at the whale! Turns out that pirate Jean [[La Foote]] (the "bad guy" in these ads) had disguised his now-sinking vessel as Wilma. Cap'n Crunch knew it because he described Vanilly Crunch and the whale didn't smile.
== [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] ==
* Used to Hawkeye's advantage in ''[[Fullmetal Alchemist]]'' to trick Envy, who was disguised as Roy, as part of her [[Batman Gambit]]. She aims a gun at him, saying that Roy never calls her "Lieutenant" in private. Cue Envy immediately breaking the form, cursing his luck and shouting "[[Everyone Can See It|I ''knew'' there was something going on with you two]]!
* This trope is a key plot point in the ''[[Weiss Kreuz]]'' OAV ''Verbrechen ~ Strafe''. During a mission briefing, when asked if she's well, Weiss's [[The Handler|handler]] Manx replies that she's having trouble with her allergy to black lilies. Much later, when Weiss finish springing their trap on the villain who was holding Manx hostage, they reveal that "[[Flower Motifs|black lily]]" is a codeword indicating "lies," and that Manx's comment had alerted them to the fact that the orders given in that mission briefing were fraudulent.
* In the Chuunin exams arc of ''[[Naruto]]'', Sasuke proposes using a password in case of enemy ninjas using doppelgangers to imitate one of them (again), and makes up a long poem as the passphrase. A few scenes later, Naruto excuses himself to pee, and when he returns he is quizzed for the passphrase, and successfully gives it. Of course, Sasuke knows that the real Naruto would not have remembered such a long passphrase, and that he was being spied on when he made it.
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* [[Batgirl|Barbara Gordon]] and [[Blue Beetle|Ted Kord]] [http://scans-daily.dreamwidth.org/868616.html know each other well.] A robot impersonates his voice, yet "Babs, fortunately, is no fool, and knows Ted far too well to fall for that shit."
* In
▲* In a MLP [[Dresden Files]] crossover fic ''[[The Dresden Fillies]]'', Harry discovers this trope in his own [[Inner Monologue]]. This clues him to the fact that {{spoiler|he has been possessed by Nightmare.}}
== [[Film]] ==
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* In ''[[Ender's Game]]'', Ender gets a message that really ''was'' written by his sister Val, but he figures out that something is off about it. He correctly guesses that the military told her to write it and told her that Ender wouldn't receive it unless she wrote what they wanted her to.
** More to the point, Valentine adds so many personal in-jokes and idiosyncracies that Ender can't help but assume that she was told to write the letter in such a way that it was stupidly obvious that it was her.
* ''[[
* In the LionBoy series, the main character knows his parents are in trouble because their letter to him is written the way an adult talks to a child, while his parents always talk to him like he was older. He and his parents use this in all their communications throughout the series.
* In one ''[[Maximum Ride]]'' book, a clone of Max tries to take her place. The kids realize something is up when she offers to cook (as Max is a [[Lethal Chef]] and leaves the cooking to Iggy), and when she expresses surprise that Iggy would know his way around considering that he's blind. Of course, Angel can read minds, too, which the clone has no clue of, so ''she'' knew right away.
== [[Live-Action TV]] ==
▲== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Played twice in the first six hours of ''[[24]]'': Kim said "I love you" over the phone to her mother Teri after being kidnapped, and Teri said the same to Jack under similar circumstances. (Amusingly, Teri catches on immediately, while her counter-terrorism-trained husband [[Genre Blindness|doesn't notice]].)
** In season 5 of the series, Jack is held hostage by a group of terrorists, and (rather unsubtly) relays a code he knew when he was employed by CTU ("I'm in a FLANK! TWO! POSITION!") to indicate he is transmitting under duress. This enables the strike teams to overtake the terrorists and save Jack... But only after McGill [[Rescued from the Scrappy Heap|figures out the outdated code]].
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* On ''[[Psych]]'', Lassiter gets a text message from "Shawn" and follows it right into the trap the killer set. When Lassiter gets there, a captive Shawn says, "I can't believe you thought that text was actually from me. It lacked all nuance, was lacking my signature mocking tone, and was totally devoid of emoticons."
* ''[[Andromeda]]'' had Dylan Hunt blinking a code with his eyes when he was kidnapped, his ship computer was programmed to detect it.
* In a recent{{when}} episode of ''[[CSI]]'', Riley calls Greg Sanders by her own name to alert him to the fact that she and Langston were being held hostage (a technique [[Chekhov's Skill|established at the beginning of the episode]] in a training roleplay). He replies "Okay, Sanders" to let her know he understands the message.
* An episode of ''[[Tales from the Crypt]]'' had the bad guy threatening the protagonist with his wife's gun, which she normally keeps in her purse for self defence. With the husband taken hostage using the gun, he attempts to lure the wife in by telling her that the husband is threatening to commit suicide with the same gun he's holding. Unfortunately for the bad guy, both husband and wife know that {{spoiler|the wife [[It Works Better with Bullets|doesn't keep any bullets]] in the gun.}}
* In a first-season episode of ''[[Jericho]]'', Johnston uses this technique to flush out a group of desperate con-artists posing as Marines, by mixing Marine and Army mottos to see if they'd recognize the wrong ones.
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* ''[[Super Robot Wars]]: Original Generation'' subverts this. When a main character's girlfriend disappears and later reappears, the character remarks that it's not her, because "even she wouldn't be silly at a time like this". When they break the mind control, she acts just like she did when she was mind-controlled. Another character mutters "Would never act like this in this situation, huh?".
* In ''[[Marvel Ultimate Alliance]]'', [[Doctor Doom]]'s henchmen get "Dum Dum" Dugan to come to the S.H.I.E.L.D. Omega Base by relaying a [[Distress Call]]. However, [[Nick Fury]] figures out it is a trap when Dugan (purposefully) lists Bruce Banner as being a scientist researching the Super Soldier Serum when he is in fact assigned to the Gamma Bomb project.
* A subtle one left for the player to notice occurs in ''[[Knights of the Old Republic II]]'' on Korriban. When the player encounters [[Trickster Mentor|Kreia]] in a tomb on the planet she supposedly won't set foot on, one way to deduce this is an illusion that's not of Kreia's making is hidden in "Kreia"'s dialog. By this point in the game, the player will have noticed [[The Nicknamer|Kreia refers to the other party members by anything ''but'' their name]]<ref>Except for one very specific instance where, outside of the player character's presence, she's taunting a character on how she knows that name is actually alias.</ref>, so perceptive players should notice when the "Kreia" they meet does this not just once, but twice in rapid succession.
== [[Web Comics]] ==
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* In ''[[Questionable Content]]'', Faye and her [[Crazy Prepared]] mother have worked out a code phrase for when Faye was being held against her will.
{{quote|'''Faye''': No mother, the peaches are '''definitely not ripe'''.}}
* Belkar of ''[[The
{{quote|'''Belkar''': Let's stop the violence.
'''Side Character''': See? Even your other party member agrees which means-
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* In ''[[Something*Positive]],'' Eva had an Internet romance with someone who claimed to be Davan. Davan's friend Josh, however, was suspicious, partially because the e-mails all had perfect spelling, something Davan apparently doesn't bother with. Unfortunately for Eva, she didn't listen.
* In ''[[Exiern]]'' Neils tries to drop hints [http://www.exiern.com/?p=1340 here] that he has been be-spelled and is no longer fully in control of his own actions by calling Crown Princess Peonie the "Second In Line To The Throne" instead of the first. It seems like no one notices at the time though. Peonie had to have it spelled out to her after the inevitable kidnapping, but her father was just going along with it 'til he could get his other assets in play.
* ''[[Blue Yonder]]'' discovers his family [https://web.archive.org/web/20201228002516/https://www.smackjeeves.com/discover/detail?titleNo=80060&articleNo=41 on an impromptu vacation] "to Omega Centuri".
== [[Web Original]] ==
* In the [[Whateley Universe]] story "Test Tube Babies", team superboy Lancer is fighting a power mimic/shapeshifter who now looks like Lancer. One of them yells at a teammate with an anti-brick weapon to 'shoot both of us'. The teammate blasts that one senseless. Not only is the teammate [[Genre Savvy]], but they have communicators they would really use instead.
== [[Western Animation]] ==
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{{quote|'''Frylock''': The real Shake thinks the blood drive is a pyramid scheme.}}
* Subverted in ''[[American Dad]]''. Francine is threatening Stan with a gun for trying to ditch her at her high school reunion with his CIA body double, Bill. One of them gives a heartfelt speech about how he was selfishly putting her down while trying to make up for his past inadequacies. Francine determines that the real Stan would never say something so sincere and shoots the opposite {{spoiler|who, [[Accent Relapse|reverting to his Southern accent]], turns out to be Bill the double, after all. Stan [[Jerk with a Heart of Gold|really was apologizing]]}}.
== [[Real Life]] ==
=== [[World War II]] ===
* The crew of the USS Pueblo, captured by North Koreans, and their ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20071204163149/http://www.usspueblo.org/v2f/captivity/goodluck.html Hawaiian Good Luck Sign]''.▼
* Resistance radio operators for the British Special Operations Executive were given special code words to indicate if they were being forced to transmit under duress. Unfortunately some of these agents were later "reminded" by headquarters to include their security check when they omitted it after being captured.▼
** A captured Korean War commander, forced into a confession, gave this: "We paean the great state of North Korea and its leader." For those of you who didn't get it {{spoiler|paean is pronounced like pee on}}▼
** Security checks, such as using codewords and including/not including certain punctuation characters in certain points of a message, to indicate that the operator now works in captivity, were the standard practice of radio operators who transmitted intelligence information from behind the enemy lines during
* Arrested by the Nazis during WWII for suspicion of hiding Jews in her house, [[wikipedia:Corrie ten Boom|Corrie ten Boom]] received a letter from her sister with bad news (their father's death). She then noticed the address was written in a hand that sloped uncharacteristically forwards, pointing to the stamp. The stamp had the message "All the watches in your closet are safe", letting her know the hidden Jews had not been found by the Nazis.▼
** They had that code already. "We have a woman's watch here that needs repairing. But I can't find a mainspring. Do you know who might have one?" was one way of saying that there was a woman in need of a hiding place, but none available. Any references to issues with a watch's face meant a Jew whose features were especially Semitic -- "Do you know someone willing to take on the extra risk?" And "This watch cannot be repaired -- do you have a receipt?" meant "Someone has died. We need a burial permit."▼
* From a letter by a Jewish family which passed through Nazi censorship:▼
{{quote|"Dear XXX, let me assure you, all the stories about Jews having to suffer in Germany are nothing but propaganda. We are fine in every way, we are not harassed by the government, and we wouldn't wish to be anywhere else, except maybe with our dear aunt Sara - Sichrona la olam!" (The latter being a Hebrew phrase roughly equivalent to "May she rest in peace".)}}▼
* At the National P.O.W. Museum (496 Cemetary Rd, Andersonville, GA), by the Andersonville civil war prison, there are a number of video screens to watch, including one screen showing black and white footage from WWII Japan. In this video there is a prisoner leaning on a railing, facing generally toward the camera. The man is unobtrusively giving the Hawaiian good luck symbol, so this gesture in film pre-dates the Korean war. Museum staff were unaware of this.▼
=== Other examples ===
▲* The crew of the USS ''Pueblo'', captured by North Koreans, and their ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20071204163149/http://www.usspueblo.org/v2f/captivity/goodluck.html Hawaiian Good Luck Sign]''.
▲** A captured Korean War commander, forced into a confession, gave this: "We paean the great state of North Korea and its leader." For those of you who didn't get it {{spoiler|paean is pronounced like pee on}}.
* Some biometric fingerprint scanners have a "panic" feature: One of the user's fingers is designated as the "panic finger": In normal conditions the user does ''not'' press it against the scanner to be verified; if they do, it still grants access but also trips a silent alarm.
* As mentioned in ''[[Bravo Two Zero]]'', people in the military, particularly special forces who may be likely to be captured, will often agree on a sign that they are being forced to do something under duress. In this book, one of the captured soldiers is forced to make a video message stating that all's well. He is given a cigarette to add to the illusion. His signal that all's not well is to hold the cigarette differently than he usually would.
▲* Resistance radio operators for the British Special Operations Executive were given special code words to indicate if they were being forced to transmit under duress. Unfortunately some of these agents were later "reminded" by headquarters to include their security check when they omitted it after being captured.
▲** Security checks, such as using codewords and including/not including certain punctuation characters in certain points of a message, to indicate that the operator now works in captivity, were the standard practice of radio operators who transmitted intelligence information from behind the enemy lines during WW II.
* When captured during [[The Vietnam War]], then-aviator Jeremiah Denton communicated to the American audience during a televised interview by blinking in Morse code, spelling out the word "torture".
* One urban legend describes a prisoner of war forced to write a letter to his family saying that he is being treated well. In the letter is a cryptic sentence: "Please give little Jimmie the stamp for his collection." The family doesn't know anyone named Jimmie, so they realize that it must be a clue. They steam the stamp off the envelope, and on the other side is written the truth of the prisoner's condition: "They've cut off my [hands/legs/tongue]."
** Then [[Fridge Logic|how did he]]—oh, [[Urban Legend]].
** Not to mention that letters sent by POW don't have stamps, at least not before they've entered Red Cross' hands.
** I heard of the inverse, a prisoner of war wrote to his parents who lived in a village small enough not to have street names. The fake address he made up (Kings' Road or Road of the Kings, plus a ridiculously high number) was a quote from [[The Bible]] (Book kings, the number indicating the verse) describing prisoners being treated
* Some businesses have, as a standard response to someone making threats, a protocol for calling 911. The employee tells the person they will have a supervisor paged, pick up the phone, dial 911, and then hang up. When 911 calls back, they respond as if talking to a supervisor with simple "yes" and "no" answers.
▲* Arrested by the Nazis during WWII for suspicion of hiding Jews in her house, [[wikipedia:Corrie ten Boom|Corrie ten Boom]] received a letter from her sister with bad news (their father's death). She then noticed the address was written in a hand that sloped uncharacteristically forwards, pointing to the stamp. The stamp had the message "All the watches in your closet are safe", letting her know the hidden Jews had not been found by the Nazis.
▲** They had that code already. "We have a woman's watch here that needs repairing. But I can't find a mainspring. Do you know who might have one?" was one way of saying that there was a woman in need of a hiding place, but none available. Any references to issues with a watch's face meant a Jew whose features were especially Semitic -- "Do you know someone willing to take on the extra risk?" And "This watch cannot be repaired -- do you have a receipt?" meant "Someone has died. We need a burial permit."
▲* From a letter by a Jewish family which passed through Nazi censorship:
▲{{quote|"Dear XXX, let me assure you, all the stories about Jews having to suffer in Germany are nothing but propaganda. We are fine in every way, we are not harassed by the government, and we wouldn't wish to be anywhere else, except maybe with our dear aunt Sara - Sichrona la olam!" (The latter being a Hebrew phrase roughly equivalent to "May she rest in peace".)}}
* If the pilot of an aircraft sets their transponder code to 7500 or says 'squawk 7500' over the radio and then does not respond, air traffic control will assume the aircraft is being or has been hijacked. There are also other, confidential, measures taken. In fact, great emphasis is placed on the part of radio training where pilots are instructed how to avoid ''accidentally'' flipping their transponder to 7500 while switching codes.
▲* At the National P.O.W. Museum (496 Cemetary Rd, Andersonville, GA), by the Andersonville civil war prison, there are a number of video screens to watch, including one screen showing black and white footage from WWII Japan. In this video there is a prisoner leaning on a railing, facing generally toward the camera. The man is unobtrusively giving the Hawaiian good luck symbol, so this gesture in film pre-dates the Korean war. Museum staff were unaware of this.
* It's very obvious when someone else is doing something on another person's Facebook, or MSN.
** There was a meme for a while of hacking, say, Bobby's facebook and making his status "hi my name is Bobby" as a signature.
{{reflist}}
[[Category:Pages needing more categories]]▼
[[Category:{{PAGENAME}}]]
[[Category:Alerts, Alarms and Warnings]]
▲[[Category:Pages needing more categories]]
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