Sarcastic Confession: Difference between revisions

 

Troper General's Warning: It is not recommended you try this in real life, particularly if you are being questioned by authorities. The world can be more [[Genre Savvy]] than TV seems to think.

 

== Anime & Manga ==

* In ''[[Kyon Big Damn Hero (Fanfic)|Kyon Big Damn Hero]]'', when Kyon's mother asks him if he's stopped being a delinquent, he replies that he's skipped straight to {{spoiler|joining the [[Yakuza]].}}

** Kyon uses Sarcastic Confessions many more times in the same fic, including the following gem (to {{spoiler|Sasaki, the resident [[Agent Scully]]}}):

* In the ''[[Rurouni Kenshin]]'' fanfic ''[http://www.fanfiction.net/s/4754499/1/To_See_You_Again To See You Again]'', when Yuriko's parents demand to know what's been going on for the past forty chapters or so, she says, {{spoiler|"[Kenshin] came through a [[Time Travel|time-warp]], and I'm the [[Reincarnation]] [[Reincarnation Romance|of his wife]]."}} plus {{spoiler|"I mean, he's not like a hundred and fifty!"}} Of course, this is exactly what happened. {{spoiler|Yuriko's father actually figured out it was the truth by the epilogue. He was cool with it}}.

* In the ''[[Harry Potter]]'' [[Peggy Sue]] fanfiction ''[[Oh God Not Again (Fanfic)|Oh God, Not Again]]'', Harry constantly tells the truth about how he knows certain things, stating specifically that no one would believe the truth anyway.

* In [[Robert A. Heinlein]]'s ''[[Stranger in A Strange Land]]''. When Jill smuggles the Man from Mars out of the hospital in a large trunk, a passing cop asks her what the trunk contains. She replies, truthfully, "A body"... he considers it a joke and lets her pass.

** Similarly, in ''[[Time Enough for Love]]'', Lazarus Long remarks that one of two ways to tell a lie artistically is to tell the truth in such a manner that no one actually believes you.

** The narrative further mentions that this is specifically a part of her training as a Herald; she and her fellow trainees are previously warned that, subjected to enough torture, they ''will'' eventually break down and give up whatever information they're being tortured for, so the best precaution is to throw out so many lies, half-truths, and [[Sarcastic Confession|Sarcastic Confessions]] that no one will believe the truth when they hear it.

** 'Best' in the sense that the information (that may be obsolete in a few months) is kept safe. Perhaps not so good from the point of view of the torture victim, if they have hidden the truth so well they will not have any left to tell the torturer and therefore the torture will not stop.

'''Fraser''': I'd rather not say. }}

* Played with in the original pilot of ''[[Hogan's Heroes]]'': The crew's certain a new inmate is a spy and are trying to figure out what to do about him. Hogan decides to actually SHOW HIM their underground hideout. They blindfold him, walk him around the camp to the trap door and use a fake [[You Just Told Me]] to convince him they're under the water tower. [[Hilarity Ensues]] when the agent runs to his superiors, rambling about a counterfeit money press, a tailor forging Nazi uniforms, and a small factory that makes gun-shaped cigarette lighters - his "lighter" was swapped for an actual gun, and his attempts to trigger the trapdoor lead to him being doused in gallons of water. The other Germans think he's nuts.

{{quote| '''Jenna:''' You wouldn't be trying to get rid of me, would you?<br />

'''Avon:''' I have to get rid of Blake first. You're next on my list.<br />

* ''[[The Awakened]]''

{{quote| '''Sue:''' Oh, yeah, and I'm kind of in love with you, but you never seem to notice.}}

 

 

'''Lois:''' You're a sick man, Kent. ''**Walks off**''<br />

'''Clark:''' You asked... }}

* In ''[[The Simpsons]]'', Homer once went to great lengths with this when he had to tell Marge that a chimp had kidnapped Bart. Comes complete with [[Lampshade Hanging]] as Homer goes on to explicitly describe the trope and sarcastically inform Marge that he's making full use of it. When Marge finds out and gets mad that it was hidden from her, Homer complains that he did tell her, in great detail.

** In that same scene, Lisa asks why he's confessing sarcastically, pointing out that Marge will still be angry when she finds out; Homer responds by giving us this little gem:

* In [[Richard Feynman]]'s autobiography, ''Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!'', Feynman tells of a fraternity prank where a door was stolen. He was the one who stole it, but even a year after it happened they still had no idea who had stolen it. He had confessed, but everyone just remembered that all the fraternity members had denied it. ("Yeah, ''I'' stole the door." "Cut it out, Feynman, this is ''serious!''")

** Additionally, he relates the story of how he got into a drunken brawl in night club with a black eye to prove it. When he truthfully explained where he got it, nobody believed him.

{{quote| '''Evaluator:''' Do you ever hear voices?<br />

'''Feynman:''' Yeah. I can hear a few right now. }}