Pinocchio Nose: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

A character has some specific tell, often a particular [[Character Tics|tic]] which gives them away when they lie. Of course, another character is bound to pick up on this.

The first step to becoming a [[Consummate Liar]] is to make sure you don't have any of these. These are impossible to hide from a [[Living Lie Detector]]. This is how [[You Can Always Tell a Liar]]. Not to be confused with a [[Gag Nose]].

 

 

No relation to [[Pinocchio Syndrome]].

 

== Anime and Manga ==

** Interestingly enough, this trope comes into play subtly again towards the end of the manga. When Chrono is trying to hide an ally's death that he can sense in another room, he closes his eyes and forces himself to smile, while babbling to Rosette about how they can celebrate their victory every year together (while she questions him about what's wrong). Eight chapters later, he once again closes his eyes and has a strained smile on his face when he tricks Rosette into {{spoiler|taking his hand so he can temporarily "stop" her time and rush off to fight Aion alone}}.

* In an episode of ''[[Digimon]]:'' Season Two, TK's brother Matt is making excuses for the current Digidestined one of their sisters, and she promptly calls bullshit, claiming people blink a lot when they lie. "Uhhhhh....*blinkblinkblinkblink*" She promises to take his excuse...for a date, much to his defeat.

** Pinochimon (Puppetmon) in ''[[Digimon Xros Wars]]'' has the same quirk as the character he's named for.

* Every time Monmon from ''[[Zatch Bell]]'' lies, his face will grow longer.

 

== Film ==

* ''[[The Negotiator]]'' has a character use the same logic as the ''[[CSI]]'' example below.

* In ''[[V for Vendetta]]'', Evey can tell that a newsreader is giving a false report if she blinks a lot.

* ''[[Airplane!]]'' has the doctor telling the passengers that [[Blatant Lies|nothing is wrong, everything is fine, and they will be landing shortly.]] His nose gets longer with every lie he tells.

* Jack Byrnes, the father in ''[[Meet the Parents]]'' can tell Greg Focker is lying by feeling Greg's pulse.

 

== Literature ==

* Mentioned and described in [[Mamet]]'s ''House of Games''.

* [[Harry Potter|Ron Weasley's]] ears go red when he's angry or lying.

* In one of the ''[[Princess Diaries]]'' books, Mia's grandmother points out that Mia's nostrils flare when she lies.

* In Robert Sawyer's ''Quintaglio Ascension Trilogy'', the titular [[Lizard Folk|tyrannosaurian race]] literally turned blue in the face if they tried to tell a lie. {{spoiler|Most of them, anyway.}}

'''Carding:''' Precisely my point. }}

** Sam Vimes actually has one in the form of another character. Captain Carrot flinches whenever he hears a direct lie, so when Vimes tries to lie to Vetinari with Carrot in the room, Vetinari just watches Carrot's face.

 

* Ned from ''[[Pushing Daisies]]'' is a terrible liar in any case (Ned: "The plane was hijacked!" Coroner: "How'd you know that?" Ned: "DNA... ish."), but also gives himself away with his [[Twitchy Eye]] and [[Motor Mouth|unrelated babbling]]. Olive's tell is that she answers questions with questions when she's hiding something or trying to lie.

* ''[[Lost]]'', "There's No Place Like Home, Part 1": Jack explains that the fact that his stitches are bleeding means his appendectomy is healing. Kate says, "You know how when most people are lying, they can't look you in the eye? You do the exact opposite."

* There was an episode of ''[[Hannah Montana]]'' all about this; whenever anyone would mention their own lying tics then she would end up doing it. Giggling and sweating were two of them, but there were more.

* ''[[CSI]]'' example: Catherine was able to penetrate one witness' story by recalling her eye movement: "People tend to look left when remembering, right when creating." It's handy to know, but not infallibly reliable.

* In ''[[MacGyver]]'', Jack Dalton's left eye twitches whenever he lies. It's mentioned in his first scene with Mac.

** Including in his faked funeral.

** A couple of episodes actually have him say "Lie Mode" before saying something untrue. It's not clear whether or not he realizes he's doing it.

* Used in an episode of ''[[The Lone Ranger]]'', where the ranger used a villain's pulse as a lie detector.

* Brick in ''[[The Middle]]'' has a very obvious tell: he simply whispers to himself "I'm lying."

* In ''[[Titus]]'', Christopher can tell when his fiance Erin is lying to him, because [[Yoda Speak|words not flow from her mouth good]].

 

== Newspaper Comics ==

* Senator Bedfellow's nose actually grows while he's being interviewed on television in one ''[[Bloom County]]'' strip. "Hold it."

* ''[[Hagar the Horrible]]''; The horns on Hagar's helmet fall off if he tells a lie to his wife.

 

== Theater ==

* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'': Aluded by Cyrano at Act II Scene III, after he has fought one hundred men, Cyrano has a [[Chekhov's Gun|slight cut on his hand and is talking casually to his friends Ragueneau and Lise:]]

 

== Video Games ==

* Pointing these out is a vital gameplay elements in ''[[Ace Attorney|Apollo Justice : Ace Attorney]]''. Particularly notable is the instance in which {{spoiler|the killer tenses his hand in such a way that his scar ''looks like a skull''.}} Yikes.

* In ''[[Kingdom Hearts]]'', it's been noted that whenever Axel lies or is unsure of what he's saying he breaks eye-contact.

 

== Western Animation ==

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Nose Tropes]]

[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]

[[Category:Truth and Lies]]