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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]].
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== Advertising ==
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* In ''[[Eyeshield 21]]'', at the start of the second half of the Devil Bats' game with the Shinryuji Nagas, Hiruma says their chances of winning are almost 0%, and that the team shouldn't do anything drastic as to harm their future careers. {{spoiler|Turns out it was all an act; everybody knows Hiruma would never tell them to give up unless the odds were exactly zero, so everyone (and we do mean ''everyone'') silently went for an onside kick as to not let the enemy know they were changing plans.}}
* In ''[[One Piece]]'', Vivi begins to suspect that there's something wrong with Usopp when he tells her to abandon the injured Carue, referring to him as "that bird." The real Usopp not only knows Carue's name, but is fairly close to Carue. In fact, it was Mr. 2 (Bon Clay) impersonating him in order to trick her.
* In the ''[[Mai Hi ME-HiME]]'' manga, Haruka begins to suspect that her [[Lotus Eater Machine]] dream is a fake when her rival Shizuru humbly says that she should never have competed with her. Haruka points out that she finds Shizuru to be quite arrogant, and that [[Butt Monkey|she could never be this happy]].
* At one point in ''[[DragonballDragon Ball]] GT'', Goku knew immediately that a mind-controlled Vegeta is [[Not Himself]] because he was calling him "Goku". The real Vegeta always made a point of referring to Goku by his ''Saiyan'' name, Kakarot.
* In ''[[Sailor Moon]] R'' one of the [[Monsters of the Week]] disguise themselves as Chibi-usa's mom and calls to her using the name Small Lady. Chibi-Usa is at first fooled, happy to see her momma again, and runs to hug her... but she then suddenly stops and asked the monster who they were. When the monster replies that she was her mother, Chibi-Usa replies she's lying because her mother never calls her Small Lady, which is her royal title.
* In one of [[The King of Fighters]] manga, Vice attempts to seduce Kyo while disguised as his girlfriend Yuki. He blows her cover when she's about to kiss him and says that, due to the context they're in, [[Tsundere|Yuki]] would actually be ''upset'' at him, not hitting on him.
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== [[Comic Books]] ==
* In a ''[[Spider-Man]]'' comic, Eddie "Venom" Brock's ex-wife (who is surrounded by police) addresses him as Edward over the phone. Displaying his typical lack of subtlety, Eddie immediately shouts "WHO'S WITH YOU?!"
* In one episode of ''[[Flash Gordon (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|Flash Gordon]]'', Dale distinguishes the real Flash from an imposter when the fake announces that he loves her. In a bit of a twist, Flash (the real one) is visibly troubled by this.
* ''[[Modesty Blaise (Comiccomic Stripstrip)|Modesty Blaise]]'': When captured by terrorists and forced to call Modesty, Willie addresses her by name instead of calling her "Princess". She immediately packs her bags and comes to his rescue.
** Modesty & Willie also repeatedly use a pre-arranged distress code throughout the series. If either of them drops the name "Jacqueline" into a communication, that's the cue to hit the panic button.
** They also use "Bertha" as code for "I need a distraction".
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* Horribly averted in ''[[Maus]]''. Art Spiegelman's father and mother were hidden in Nazi-occupied Poland but wanted to go to a safer country. Smugglers promised to help them but Vladek Spiegelman wasn't sure if they would betray him or not. A friend went first and wrote a letter back saying everything was fine. Unfortunately they didn't set up any kind of warning system and the friend wrote the letter with a gun to his head. They all ended up in Auschwitz including, eventually, the smugglers (ironically the friends who moved into their vacated hiding place survived the war).
* In [[Frank Miller]]'s first issue of ''[[Daredevil]]'', [[Elektra]] forces a [[Mook]] to phone his boss and set up a meeting (so she could capture him and collect his bounty). The mook suggests a time an hour later than previously planned, which was their codeword for trouble. His boss knew he was going to be walking into a trap.
* In one issue of ''[[Doom Patrol (Comic Book)|Doom Patrol]]'', Larry figured out that the putty-like Madame Rouge was impersonating the Chief when "he" called Rita Elasti-Girl -- "the Chief would NEVER call Rita by that freak name!"
* [[Batgirl (Comic Book)|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."
 
 
== Fanfiction ==
* In a MLP [[Dresden Files]] crossover fic ''[[The Dresden Fillies (Fanfic)|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.}}
 
 
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* In ''[[Sneakers]]'', [[Sidney Poitier]]'s character draws [[Robert Redford]]'s away from a meeting with the villains in a public meeting space after seeing a newspaper blurb mentioning that the mathematician they had stolen the [[MacGuffin]] from has been killed and realizing what their employers really are. He gets Redford to leave with him by holding up the carphone and shouting that it's his mother calling, in what's clearly a pre-arranged disaster code (Redford's character has been living under an assumed name for the last twenty years...).
** Also, because one of their group has the nickname "Mother"...
* ''[[Terminator (Filmfranchise)|Terminator]] 2'' does this twice, first when John tries to call his foster parents to warn them about the T-1000:
{{quote| '''John:''' Something's wrong, she's never this nice.}}
** At which point the Terminator takes over:
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** It happens again when the T-1000 takes Sarah Connor's form and asks for help, something the real Sarah had previously berated her son for doing. The other Sarah instead tells John to get out of the way, something the T-1000 would not be inclined to tell his target.
*** In the [[Directors Cut]], however, John is tipped off when he sees his "mother's" foot melting into the floor.
* The ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'' movie, ''[[Serenity (Film)|Serenity]]''
{{quote| ''Mal and Inara have a polite, awkward conversation by videophone, with Inara inviting Mal to visit her. Discussion with the rest of the crew ensues.''<br />
'''Zoe''': So. Trap?<br />
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** The DVD release includes an amusing alternate take where Mal instead screams that last ''"TRAP!"'' at the top of his lungs.
** Also, the first hint Simon had that River was being mistreated was that her letters to him were full of spelling errors and referenced family outings that never happened.
* Subverted in ''[[The Bourne Series (Filmfilm)|The Bourne Ultimatum]]'', when {{spoiler|Nikki is in a room with Jason Bourne and asked to "code in" on the phone to her superiors. Her personnel record is shown on screen, with responses for "normal" and "under duress", but despite being in a potentially dangerous situation she gives the "normal" response. This was because she'd switched sides.}}
** And it becomes a [[Double Subversion]] {{spoiler|because her superiors figure out Bourne is there anyway and send troops in to get him.}}
* In ''[[National Treasure]]: Book of Secrets'', the trap is somewhat different. Mitch Wilkinson forces Emily Appleton to give her ex-husband a rather unconvincing fake translation of some Olmec hieroglyphs. He doesn't seem to pick up on her gestures, so she promptly texts her son Ben Gates the real translation.
* In the second ''[[Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Film)|Lara Croft Tomb Raider]]'' movie, Lara's butler tries to do this, but is rebuked for it. "Why are we even having this conversation?"
* Happened in the second ''[[Miss Congeniality]]'' movie.
** Miss United States drops a big hint to her location by saying "My booty is on the line here." Sandra's character catches on and explains that "She would never refer to her butt as her booty... she would never refer to her butt as her butt! She calls it a po-po!" The kidnappers tie her and the celebrity pageant host into the sinking ship at Treasure Island in Las Vegas to passively kill them.
* ''[[Bullshot]]'' (1983). The dastardly villain, Count Otto von Bruno, who speaks in a [[Prussia|stereotypical Prussian accent]], fakes the voice of Professor Fenton with [[Applied Phlebotinum]]. Despite a [[Failsafe Failure|chronic malfunction]] which forces von Bruno to speak at a vastly sped-up rate, the Professor's [[Damsel in Distress|dim-witted daughter]] doesn't suspect a thing when he says: "I want you the formula to London bring." Only our hero Bullshot Crummond realises instantly that you'd never hear a split infinitive from an Oxford man, and so it must be a trap!
* In ''[[Die Hard (Film)|Die Hard]] With a Vengeance'', a bunch of German mercenaries impersonate cops. Although the leader speaks English with a flawless American accent, he slips up on a few word choices, such as calling an elevator a "lift" and saying that it's raining "dogs and cats," instead of the usual "cats and dogs. When McClane recognizes that one of them is wearing a friend's badge, and mentions the lottery to figure out if anyone on the elevator is real. None of the fake cops know last night's numbers, though in the beginning it's established that every NYPD cop plays the lottery with their badge number.
* Since we don't have a "Something They Would Never Do"-Trope: One of the ''[[Dirty Harry]]'' films had Harry walk into a café that was being robbed. Everyone inside was forced to act naturally while "The Cop" made his order, but the waitress managed to warn Harry by pouring about five tea-spoons of sugar in his coffee after ten years of "His Usual" being No Sugar, No Milk.
** A similar scene in the film ''[[It Could Happen To You]]''. When a cop walks into a local deli to get coffee, he asks where the owner's wife is. The owner tells him that she's out sick, but as he turns to get supplies we see that his wife is being held at gunpoint by a robber. Although the cop doesn't see this, when he goes outside to join his partner, he tells him that the man is being robbed--having come to the store for years, they know that "that woman could be dead and she'd STILL show up for work".
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== [[Literature]] ==
* ''[[Animorphs (Literature)|Animorphs]]'' has a straight example when Jake is infested. His friends realize he has been body snatched when he shows sudden, inexplicable revulsion to Ax; the accusations tick the Yeerk off so much that he eventually snaps and calls him "Andalite filth," confirming the suspicions. Of course most of the time the trope is subverted with Yeerks impersonating humans flawlessly.
** And then he flubbed it ''again'' by laughing when he realized that Ax's plan to take his place for three days while the rest of the group starved the Yeerk out of his head would most likely crash and burn. Obviously, a bad Jake impersonation and a suspicious Tom wouldn't be a good thing for the real Jake, no matter how annoyed he was with his friends.
** That particular Yeerk seems to be a bad actor; he was also Tom's original Yeerk, who quit the basketball team and thus clued Marco in that Tom was [[Not Himself]].
* Georgina "George" Kirrin in the first ''[[The Famous Five]]'' novel is ordered to send a note to two of the gang (another is with her) by some smugglers. She signs it "Georgina", which she would never call herself and gets highly offended when called that.
* In ''[[Green Rider]]'', a man hides a crucial message in a love letter. He's killed before he can deliver it, but the protagonist, Karigan, passes on the love letter to the messenger's girlfriend. When she gets the letter, she spots some inconsistent details (he misstates the color of her hair; he mentions a brother when he doesn't have one) and mentions it to Karigan, who realizes that the letter contains a coded message.
* [[Agatha Christie (Creator)|Agatha Christie]]'s short story "The Adventure of the Sinister Stranger" uses a [[Homage]] to the [[Weird Al Effect|now-obscure]] Oakwood Brothers stories by Valentine Williams. When Tommy announces he is going to "walk into a trap with my eyes open", Tuppence says that this is exactly what happens in the stories when Desmond Oakwood blunders into something and needs Francis to rescue him. Tommy subsequently signs a letter asking Tuppence to return to the agency "Francis", to signal that he's done precisely that.
** In ''The Secret Adversary'', Tommy realises that a message sent to him from Tuppence is not actually from her, as it is signed "Twopence".
** Also used in the novel ''The Man in the Brown Suit''. After Anne is lured into a trap by a note allegedly sent by Harry, she and Harry decide that in all future written communication, they will only refer to each other by pseudonyms. Later, Anne is kidnapped and forced to write Harry a note which will lead him into a trap. When she signs it with her real name instead of the agreed-upon pseudonym, Harry recognizes that the note is a fake and that Anne is in trouble.
* In the science fiction novel ''[[Sewer, Gas and& Electric (Literature)|Sewer Gas and Electric]]'', one of the main characters (a parody of [[Ayn Rand]]'s heroes) is forced to play a twisted computer game against a robot double of himself, with his parents' lives at stake. When his ex-girlfriend charges in with a gun to rescue him, the fake jumped up and acted relieved, whereupon she gunned it down. The real one was so absorbed in the game that he didn't even ''notice'' any of this until several turns later, when he realized his opponent hadn't made any moves.
* One of the [[Star Wars Expanded Universe]] books from the eighties - ''Han Solo's Revenge'' - inverted the trope. When Han and Chewie were to make a smuggling drop, if during the meeting Han did ''not'' try and signal Chewie (who was overseeing the proceedings back in the cockpit of the Falcon) then something had gone wrong with the drop.
* ''[[A Series of Unfortunate Events]]'' presents a written variant in the third book. The trio's Grammar Nazi auntie leaves them what looked like a suicide note, but was filled with mistakes, leading them to deduce that it was written under duress and contained some hidden message. Which it did: the letters involved in the misspelled and malformed words spelled out where she was actually hiding.
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== [[Live Action TV]] ==
* Played twice in the first six hours of ''[[Twenty Four24]]'': 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]].
* Used quite a bit on ''[[Knight Rider]]'', usually to indicate something very wrong with KITT. In the episode "Killer KITT", KITT snapping at Michael was an indication that his programming was being messed with.
** One episode of the new series had a hilarious variation when Mike is impersonating a member of a group [[The Caper|out to steal from a Vegas casino]]. The leader figures out something is wrong because Mike is too ''competent''.
* ''[[Star Trek: Deep Space Nine]]'':
** In "Heart of Stone", Odo spends a lot of time with Changeling!Major Kira. He only realizes it is a double when "she" says "I love you".
** In "Armageddon Game", an alien government has faked the deaths of O'Brien and Bashir (while trying to hunt down and actually kill them) in an attempt to destroy all knowledge of a dangerous bio-weapon. They send a recording of a faked lab accident to Deep Space Nine, using security footage from earlier on. But O'Brien's wife notices him drinking coffee, which he would NEVER do in the afternoon, and her suspicions along with the shady explanation of the accident itself is enough to get Sisko and the others to investigate further. At the end of the episode, O'Brien is recovering at home and asks for a cup of coffee after lunch, explaining to his shocked wife that he ALWAYS drinks coffee in the afternoons...
* The ''[[Star Trek: theThe Original Series]]'' episode "What Are Little Girls Made Of". A robotic double is made of Kirk, with the robot having a duplicate of his mind as well. Kirk foils the plan during the procedure by mentally focusing on a racist insult toward Spock, something he would never normally say but which is consequently implanted into the double.
** There's another one in "Whom the Gods Destroy," when the villain tries to bluff his way out of failing a Trust Password test by telling Scotty that he was just testing to make sure that he wouldn't let anyone beam up without the password. Given how long Kirk and Scotty have known one another, and how much they trust one another, Scotty immediately figures out that the "just testing you" story is bogus.
* In ''[[Star Trek: theThe Next Generation]]'' episode "Allegiance", Picard is replaced by a double who has his memories but doesn't act like him very well--basically doing the kinds of things Picard would do if he weren't an incredibly reserved man (one of the weird things the doppelganger Picard does is go into [[Good Guy Bar|Ten Forward]], order drinks all around, and start singing). When the real Picard asks Riker what the giveaway was, he is told: "Well, sir, I find it hard to believe that [[Take That|you're that good a singer]]."
* On ''[[Angel (TV)|Angel]]'', Lorne appears to have pursued a career in show business and is only seen during brief telephone calls every few episodes, and each time, he asks how Fluffy is doing. The main characters are convinced that his success is just going to his head and that he is constantly snubbing them, but when they finally come to his rescue, he says, "Fluffy. Fluffy the dog. The dog you don't have. The universally recognized code for I'm being held prisoner. Send help!"
** Hilariously played off when they got the call originally.
{{quote| '''Fred:''' "You don't think he was referring to anything of mine that's fluffy do you? Because that would just be inappropriate..." }}
** Also played with in the episode "Double or Nothing" when an old debt of Gunn's is called in (his soul) and he tries to push Fred away with some very mean words in order to spare her the pain of his leaving/death (not clear). Although visibly upset at first, she sees right through this ploy and tell the others he must be in some VERY BAD trouble because Gunn would never really say those things unless he was TRYING to push her away to protect her.
* On ''[[Firefly (TV)|Firefly]]'', in River's backstory, she sends Simon and his family several odd notes referencing events that never happened, which actually contain a complex code intended to alert them to her mistreatment at the hands of the Alliance.
* When Jack's smart house takes him hostage (along with several other characters) in ''[[Eureka]]'', he responds to his deputy's concern with, "Sorry, false alarm. But thanks for coming down, ''Josephina.''" Since this is the only time he or anyone else has called her anything but "Jo," she realizes pretty quickly that something's out of the ordinary.
** And in the season 2 finale, Taggart can tell that {{spoiler|the Eureka computer is faking Fargo's voice because it calls him "Teg", something Jo called him.}}
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'''Maj. Carter:''' Maybe you read my report?<br />
'''Dr. Jackson:''' [skeptically] Maybe he ''read'' your ''report''? [raises eyebrows] }}
* In an episode of ''[[CharliesCharlie's Angels]]'', one of the girls has been captured and is forced to act on the phone to the others as though everything is OK. She plays along, but drops in a reference to her station wagon, something the Angels are not known for driving.
* ''[[Eleventh Hour]]'', "Miracle": [[Patrick Stewart]]'s character realizes that the apparent suicide of a doctor he'd been working with isn't what it seems when, in her suicide note, she bequeaths to him her "geiger counter". At an earlier meeting, she had made a point of her aversion to that term (on account of Hans Geiger's naziism), insisting instead upon calling it a "radiation detector".
* ''[[Supernatural (TV series)|Supernatural]]'' used this in ''Hunted''. When Gordon uses Dean as bait and forces him to call Sam, Sam instantly knows that something's wrong because Dean used the codeword "Funkytown". {{spoiler|Subverted: Gordon knew that Dean would find a way to alert Sam and was leading him into a trap}}.
** Actually done several times. Once by a shape-shifter. Another time the body of another supernatural hunter was possessed by the [[Seven Deadly Sins]].
* ''[[Dark Angel]]'' uses this in the episode "Rising". When the villains tries to use Original Cindy as bait, she warns Max by referring to her new boyfriend. Original Cindy is a lesbian.
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** In the third season finale, Madeline Westen apparently had a code phrase meaning "stay away" already established with her sons. It was originally meant to indicate that their [[Abusive Parents|father was in a drunken rage]], but it also works pretty well when {{spoiler|the FBI is after Mike}}.
** In the fourth season episode "Out of the Fire", Michael calls Fiona 'honey' while talking to her over the phone. She then explains that this a code phrase they had during their Belfast days meaning 'something is wrong'.
* Subverted in the episode "Psirens" of ''[[Red Dwarf (TV)|Red Dwarf]]'', when the crew is trying to figure out which of two Listers is a mind-reading impostor. The two act alike, until the crew has one of them play Lister's guitar. Because Lister sincerely (but utterly incorrectly) considers himself a brilliant player, the fake reads this, belts out a few power-chords, and goes down in a hail of laser-fire.
** Played straight earlier when Dave realizes that the "Kryten" that saved him was not really Kryten, since Kryten never calls Lister "Dave".
* 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 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 Fromfrom 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 Withwith 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.
* On ''[[Farscape (TV)|Farscape]]'', episode "I Shrink, Therefore I am". Crichton is returning to [[Living Ship|Moya]], which unbeknown to him has been hijacked. He messages the ship:
{{quote| '''Pilot''': Ka D'Argo is currently... helping Rygel with his... laundry. And Aeryn's writing some... poetry.<br />
'''Crichton''': Uh-huh. What about, ah... Chiana and Sikozu? <br />
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** In an earlier episode, Hotch was uncharacteristically frustrated with Reid's earlier difficulty in the shooting range after they had both been captured. He eventually convinced the UNSUB to let him kick Reid before they both died, which gave Reid a chance to grab the gun in his ankle holster. Later Reid said he'd figured out the plan at the very beginning, making the drawn-out scene unnecessary.
** In the DVD commentary for "Revelations," the writers mused on this swap and eventually agreed that Reid and Hotch have "a very effective spite-based communication."
* During the second season arc of ''[[Alias (TV series)|Alias]]'', Sydney and Jack's [[Deep-Cover Agent|cover]] as agents of SD-6 is in jeopardy. Jack is in the custody of an SD-6 higher-up, ordered to bring his daughter in under suspicion of being moles. He calls Sydney, then tells her to take "surface roads," because of traffic. That's their code for, "we've been discovered, it's not safe."
* In an episode of ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]'', Donna is being held prisoner in her room by a would-be rapist. When David shows up at the apartment to apologize to her (they had an argument earlier in the day), the rapist orders her to get rid of him. So from behind a closed door, Donna repeatedly yells at David to leave, but she keeps calling him "Dave", something she's never done before. David realizes something's wrong and manages to save her.
* In ''[[Dallas]]'', Pam signals to Bobby that something is wrong by telling him on the phone that she plans to spend the evening playing backgammon with J.R. Bobby knows Pam and J.R. hate each other and would never willingly spend the evening together, so he hurries home to find the whole family is being held hostage.
* ''[[Castle]]'': Castle is being tied up and held at gunpoint by a killer when his mother calls. The killer forces him to answer the phone and act normal. When Castle ends the call with "I love you", his mother calls Beckett and tells her something must be terribly wrong.
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* In a chilling episode of ''[[Rescue 911]]'', a woman is told by a rapist to call in sick to her workplace. She promptly dials a male friend and tells him, "I can't come in to work today," thus alerting the friend that she's in trouble and he needs to stop by PRONTO. A few seconds later, she does the same thing again with 911, and the dispatcher immediately works out that there's something wrong and sends the police.
** There was a similar episode of ''[[I Survived]]''. When a woman's crazed ex-husband broke into her house and threatened her, she managed to stall him by telling him that her friend was coming to take her shopping and that she needed to cancel her plans. Amazingly, he let her call. When the friend answered, the woman proceeded to cheerfully tell her that she couldn't make it and not to bother coming. Initially confused--because they did NOT have plans to get together--the friend quickly realized that something was wrong and asked if the woman's husband was there. Upon being told "yes", the friend immediately called 911.
* On an episode of ''[[Baywatch]]'', as Stephanie gets into her truck, she's confronted by an escaped convict, who orders her to drive off the beach. During the drive, Mitch radios Stephanie to tell her to return to headquarters. The criminal orders Stephanie to tell Mitch that she has found a lost child and is driving him around to find his parents. Stephanie complies, knowing that the criminal has just [[Hoist Byby His Own Petard|hoisted himself by his own petard]]. Ironically, in his efforts to avoid detection, ''he's'' the one who has told her to say [[Something They Would Never Say|something she would never say]]. The lifeguards NEVER drive lost children around to find their parents. Policy dictates that they bring the children to headquarters. Sure enough, Mitch realizes Stephanie's in trouble and sends the police to find her.
* Rather terrifyingly [[Inverted]] in an episode of ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]''. The setup is that [[Bitch in Sheep's Clothing|Morgana]] has convinced [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|King Uther]] that his son Arthur has been enchanted by Guinevere. Convinced that Arthur is under a spell Uther orders Guinevere to be burnt at the stake, at which point a panicking Arthur tells his father that he'd be willing to renounce his claim on the throne if only Guinevere is spared. Unfortunately, Uther takes this as "final proof" that Arthur is under a spell, claiming that it's something that he would never say. Except of course, he ''does''.
** Played straight in a later episode: [[Parental Substitute|Gaius]] is being controlled by a goblin. Arthur suspects as much and tricks the goblin into revealing itself by discussing [[Like a Son to Me|Merlin's]] imminent execution. When goblin!Gaius does not show the least bit of a negative reaction to this, Arthur knows that Gaius is not himself, so to speak.
* In the episode "Chris-Crossed" from ''[[Charmed (TV)|Charmed]]'', Chris is forcibly taken to the future, and tells the sisters right beforehand, "Looks like Leo's going to have to fix that floorboard without me." They initially misinterpret this to be his final words of defeat, as it seemingly has no relevance to the situation and he hates Leo, until they figure out Chris is trying to get them to put a power-restoring spell underneath the floorboard for him to use in the future.
** Another ''Charmed'' example has Piper being possessed by a demon. Piper warns the demon that her sisters will eventually figure it out, "Or if they don't, my boyfriend Tom will." Piper's fiance (the aforementioned Leo) comes in just then and immediately becomes suspicious when the demon in Piper's body calls him Tom.
* In the ''[[JAG]]'' episode "Secrets", Admiral Chegwidden is being held at gunpoint, and tells Bud over the phone to get him a specific file. Harm and Mac realize the file the Admiral asked for is about a sailor who held his CO hostage, tipping them off.
* In ''[[Chuck]] versus The Santa Suit'', {{spoiler|Shaw}} has taken over Castle and is holding Sarah hostage. In getting an important file, Chuck apparently gets a call from Sarah, but as he's able to deduce, it's just {{spoiler|Shaw}} using a voice modifier. How? Chuck concludes that Sarah would never call him "dear".
* In the ''[[MacGyver]]'' episode "Countdown", Mac cues Pete in on the fact that he needs to speak to him on a private channel by 'reminding' him that they are due to play golf when he gets back. Mac has never played a round of golf in his life.
* In an episode of ''[[Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger (TV)|Kaizoku Sentai Gokaiger]]'', the [[Monster of the Week]] assumes the form of Yellow Ranger Luka. Near the end of the episode the rest of the team reveals that they were aware for some time, since at dinner the monster ate broccoli, a food Luka absolutely despises.
* In ''[[Sherlock]]'', John blinks SOS while he's strapped to the semtex vest and faces Sherlock after being taken hostage by Moriarty. There's no indication that Sherlock got it
* On ''[[The X-Files]]'', this happens with a twist. In the episode "Small Potatos," Mulder is kidnapped by a shape-shifter who decides to steal Mulder's identity...literally. In "Dreamland," Mulder and an MIB switch bodies. Both non-Mulders try their hand at seducing Scully. The MIB was so sleazy about it that some of the things he said were a big sign to Scully that Mulder was [[Not Himself]]. Plus, they both called her "Dana," which Mulder ''never'' does unless things are really bad.
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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 Order of the Stick (Webcomic)|Order of the Stick]]'' subverts ([[Zig -Zagging Trope|double-subverts? parodies?]]) this during aftermath of the fight with the thieves guild. Celia and Hayley take it as Belkar gone [[Ax Crazy]]. More so than usual, anyway.
{{quote| '''Belkar''': Let's stop the violence.<br />
'''Side Character''': See? Even your other party member agrees which means-<br />
Line 234:
 
== [[Western Animation]] ==
* Parodied in ''[[The Simpsons (Animationanimation)|The Simpsons]]'', episode "Midnight Towboy", when Homer is kidnapped and calls his family.
{{quote| '''Lisa''': Dad? Where are you?<br />
'''Homer''': ''(reading from a cue card held by the kidnapper, bad acting)'' Do not worry, I am working.<br />
Line 241:
'''Lisa''': You sound weird.<br />
'''Homer''': Everything is fine, goodbye forever. ''(Hangs up)'' }}
* A variation of this occurs in the ''[[Sonic Sat AM (Animation)|Sonic Sat AM]]'' series. Sally has been replaced with a robot duplicate, and says a multitude of things she would never say. It's when she replaces a "thumbs up" gesture with Sonic with a "thumbs down" gesture that Sonic gets it.
** Another Western Sonic series, ''[[Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog (Animation)|Adventures of Sonic the Hedgehog]]'', also pulled off a variant of this trope. Sonic becomes concerned about Tails' safety, so after some false starts he thinks he's found a perfect family to adopt Tails, but then becomes depressed that Tails is gone. He has a flashback of the parents welcoming "Tails" to their family... and then suddenly remembers that ''he'' gave him the name Tails; Tails' ''real'' parents should have called him Miles, the name ''they'' gave him! Sonic rushes to the rescue; the "parents" turn out to be Robotnik's robotic goons in disguise.
* All-around skewered in the ''[[South Park]]'' episode "Spookyfish", where "Evil Cartman" (actually a sweet and lovable [[Mirror Universe]] Cartman... from a MU where everyone has a goatee and is the opposite personality) and "Real Cartman" fight to avoid being sent back to the MU. When the goatee gets ripped off, one Cartman says they'll just have to send both back. Wanting "Evil Cartman" to stay, and knowing this is something "Real Cartman" would never say, the boys send the other Cartman back... except that Real Cartman is quite [[Genre Savvy]]...
* In an episode of ''[[Batman: theThe Animated Series]]'', the daughter of the mechanic who works on the Batmobile is kidnapped. With the bad guys listening in, Batman asks where she is, and the mechanic responds that she's "in the basement", which is apparently racetrack slang for in big trouble.
** In an episode of ''[[Batman Beyond]]'', Bruce realizes that his "inner voice" isn't really his, that he's under suggestion by the villain Shriek:
{{quote| '''Terry''': How did you know you weren't going crazy?<br />
Line 250:
'''Terry''': ''(in Batman voice)'' Don't forget, that's my name now...<br />
'''Bruce''': Tell that to my subconscious. }}
** In a crossover episode, Robin calls [[Superman: theThe Animated Series|Superman]] to Gotham, as Batman has gone missing. As proof that something is wrong, he shows a video message of Bruce Wayne calling Lucius Fox about going away for a while. When Supes asks what's wrong about that, Robin points out that Bruce chuckles at the end. Bruce Wayne ''never'' smiles, much less laughs. Turns out he's under Brainiac's mind control, but not because he's Batman (which Brainiac doesn't know) but because he needs access to Wayne Enterprises resources.
* In ''[[The Spectacular Spider-Man]]'' {{spoiler|Norman Osborn does not apologize.}} The Chameleon would though.
* On an episode of ''[[Men in Black (Animationanimation)|Men in Black]]'', J instantly realized that an alien was impersonating K, because K would never had laughed at any of his jokes.
* On ''[[Teen Titans (Animationanimation)|Teen Titans]],'' the hero Jericho is possessing Cinderblock to get him and the other good guys into the bad guys' lair. However, he villains are immediately suspicious when "Cinderblock" says "Thank you" to one of their comments--having never fought these villains before, Jericho didn't realize that Cinderblock [[The Voiceless|doesn't normally talk]].
** Which is sort of ironic, because usually, [[The Speechless|Jericho doesn't either]].
* This was how Cosgrove discredited an evil clone in ''[[Freakazoid]]'': he asked if the clone wanted to [[Running Gag|go to a Yakov Smirnov festival]]. The clone said "no". (Compare that to Freakazoid's usual "DO I!")
* In the opening movie of the ''[[Star Wars: theThe Clone Wars]]'' cartoon, Rex clues Anakin and Ahsoka into the fact that the surviving members of the group of clones they'd been captured by saying "Anakin, we've held the droids. What is your position?" This clues them in because all clones address Jedi by either "General" for Knights or "Commander" for Padawans, never by name.
* Averted on ''[[Family Guy]]''. Lois is being held at gunpoint by Diane Simmons, and she tries to signal to Peter that something by calling him "Pete" (something she never does), while Peter does question it, he quickly ignores it and leaves so he can listen to music in the car.
* In ''[[Aqua Teen Hunger Force (Animation)|Aqua Teen Hunger Force]]'' a (very degraded) clone of Shake was caught when Frylock suggested they give blood.
{{quote| '''Frylock''': The real Shake thinks the blood drive is a pyramid scheme.}}
* Subverted in ''[[American Dad (Animation)|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 Withwith a Heart of Gold|really was apologizing]]}}.
 
 
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