History Main / ExactWords

** In ''The Wild Beyond The Witchlight'', Granny Nightshade will pull this on anyone accepting her posted services offered for a favor. "Win the heart of the one you love?" [[spoiler:You get the heart, torn out, in a box.]] "Be buried up to your neck in silver?" [[spoiler:You get literally encased in a silver nugget which disappears if you are freed.]] "No sword will ever break your skin?" [[spoiler:Petrified.]] But some of her service offers actually are genuine, like "I'll curse anyone you choose,"; she actually will, as cursing people is kind of her jam. This allows the [=PCs=] to pull a revenge Exact Words on her - by [[spoiler:choosing for her to curse ''herself'']]!

* Omnitron-X has a number of cards labeled as Components. So does the villain Omnitron. Omnitron-X has a number of cards that rely on destroying Components. These cards do ''not'' state that they have to be ''Omnitron-X'' Components. Omnitron-X ''can'' destroy ''Omnitron's'' Components with these cards.

* ''Animation/BoBoiBoy'': Ochobot's reasoning to giving powers to [=BoBoiBoy=] is his programming to give powers to whoever activates him. Adu Du says he was the one who activated him, but [=BoBoiBoy=] contests that since Adu Du stole his cocoa, he was technically the one who activated him. Following that, the cocoa truly was Tok Aba's, so Tok Aba gets a free robotic helper at his cocoa store.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': [[https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/03/26 One comic]] has Calvin announce that he's home. Hobbes begins to jump at Calvin, but slams into the door.
--->'''Calvin''': You'll notice I didn't say I was inside.

* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': [https://www.gocomics.com/calvinandhobbes/1988/03/26 One comic] has Calvin announce that he's home. Hobbes begins to jump at Calvin, but slams into the door.

* In one of ''Literature/AesopsFables'', two boys enter a butcher shop. One snatches an expensive piece of meat, then passes it to the other boy behind his back. When the butcher discovers the theft, the boys defend themselves using this trope: the one who stole it doesn't have it, and the one who has it didn't steal it. Since the butcher can't technically prove the theft, he can't bring the law on the boys. In a subversion, though, he warns them that while ''human'' law is subject to exact wording, the law of the gods is not, and the deities will [[LaserGuidedKarma see through the trick and punish the boys severely]].

->'''Terminator:''' Why do we stop now?
->'''John:''' Now you gotta promise you won't kill anyone, right?
->'''Terminator:''' Right.
->'''John:''' You swear?
->'''Terminator:''' What?
->'''John:''' Just put up your hand and say "I swear I won't kill anyone."
->'''Terminator:''' ''(parrots)'' I swear I will not kill anyone.
->'''John:''' Alright, let's go.
->'''Security Guard''': Visiting hours is ten to four, Monday through Friday-! ''[[KneeCapping (two loud gunshots)]]'' Auuugh, arrrrrrghhh!
->'''John:''' What the hell are you doing!?
->'''Security Guard''': You son of a bitch! You shot me! ''[agonized mumbling]''
->'''Terminator:''' ''(returns to John on the motorcycle as the gate opens)'' He'll live.
-->-- ''Film/Terminator2JudgmentDay''

* A man is reading the classifieds ([[TechnologyMarchesOn or Craigslist, depending on when the joke is set]]) and sees a notice announcing an almost brand-new Porsche on sale for twenty dollars. Thinking it's a trick, he goes to the address in the ad--a large mansion--and meets a wealthy middle-aged woman who takes him to the garage, where the newest model of Porsche is waiting. The man goes for a test drive, and finds that the car works perfectly. When he gets back, he takes a twenty from his wallet and hands it to the woman, but he can't resist asking why she's selling such an expensive car so cheap. The rich woman explains that her husband recently ran off with his secretary, and sent her a message from Europe telling her to "sell the Porsche and send me the money"--neglecting to tell her how much to ''charge'' for the Porsche.

** Both of Mulaney's parents are lawyers and he has quite a few bits about how this made him and his siblings learn how to say things exactly the right way to get anywhere with them. One time they were on a road trip and all four of the kids were getting rowdy because they were hungry. Mr. Mulaney didn’t want to stop because they were almost there. They saw a UsefulNotes/McDonalds and started chanting “[=McDonald’s!=] over and over. He obliged but only ordered one black coffee for himself and drove off because they didn’t actually ask for anything. John admits it was ActuallyPrettyFunny.

* A warship enters the harbor of a DeepSouth town. A local aristocratic woman writes a letter to the captain, requesting to send her a dozen well-behaved men for a ball she's throwing for the young ladies in her boarding house. But no Jews. At the appointed hour, she opens the door and sees a dozen black guys in uniform. The shocked woman says, "There must be some mistake!" One of the sailors replies, "Madam, Captain Rabinowitz is never mistaken."

* In ''VisualNovel/Danganronpa2GoodbyeDespair'', BigBad [[MascotVillain Monokuma]] [[spoiler:calls the Future Foundation "World Enders"]], leading the player to believe that [[spoiler:the Future Foundation is a NebulousEvilOrganisation]]. While the [[spoiler:"World Enders"]] bit is objectively true, [[spoiler:Monokuma doesn't say that the Future Foundation wants to "end" the world brought about by [[ApocalypseHow The Tragedy]] by fighting against the Ultimate Despair, making them GoodAllAlong]].

The KnightTemplar, the AntiHero, and those with even looser standards (but some standards) will often stick to Exact Words even as they declare IGaveMyWord. A common trait of LawfulEvil characters. Also a common (and not always evil) way to play with JustFollowingOrders or the LeonineContract. Undercover heroes often tell the BigBad that "Your operation is very impressive, and you deserve everything that's coming to you" -- both of which are true, [[FalseReassurance without specifying]] [[LaserGuidedKarma what exactly]] ''is'' coming their way.

*** When Apollo shows him a photo of a woman and a baby, and uses a background detail to guess that the baby is Nahyuta, he asks [[spoiler:Dhurke]] if the photo is really 23 years old. [[spoiler:Dhurke]] replies, "You're really good with numbers!", [[spoiler: never actually confirming anything]].

* In episode 4 of WebAnimation/CharlieTheUnicorn, the pink and blue unicorns who antagonize Charlie promise him that if he enters the cavern on the moon, they’ll never bother him again. [[DetonationMoon Because they’re going to blow it up.]]
* In episode 24 of WebAnimation/DrCrafty, Sarah Sanderson from ''Film/HocusPocus'' say that the sisters would love to have co-host Nurse Worse for dinner. They mean this literally as a few seconds after being resurrected, they eagerly surround Nurse commenting on how "[[BigBeautifulWoman plump and juicy"]] she is and saying she'll keep them fed for centuries. The Sanderson Sisters lean in to eat Nurse like a trio of hyenas on a zebra and would've actually consumed Nurse had Dr. Crafty not intervened.

** Possibly the straightest example of this trope is in a possible bad ending, where [[spoiler:just before a certain Ally or Betray choice, Clover asks Sigma to choose "Betray", so she and Sigma can get more points and Clover in particular will reach 9 points. Clover promises Sigma that if Sigma chooses Betray, Clover will listen to ''anything'' Sigma says! But picking "Betray" at this point will get you the bad ending, because upon reaching 9 points Clover promptly goes for the exit. Sigma angrily shouts to Clover that she promised she would listen to anything Sigma said, and Clover replies that she ''is'' listening, she can hear Sigma very clearly even from all the way over there! The problem is that Clover only promised to ''listen'' to whatever Sigma says, not to actually ''do'' whatever Sigma says]].

** In any ending where someone escapes, the announcer comments that the Nonary Game is now over and that all doors other than the Number 9 Door have been unlocked. [[spoiler:This includes the identical door on the floor below, though it can only be opened from the outside. This means that it might be possible for the winner(s) to let everyone else out, depending on whether or not the game being over also deactivated the losers' [[ExplosiveLeash bracelets]], which will kill them if they leave with less than 9 BP. However, the only ending where the door actually gets used is the GoldenEnding where everyone escapes legitimately anyway, and then decide to go back inside for some more answers]].

** Another version of the joke has the same punchline, but Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse are the ones getting the divorce. The judge says to Mickey that he can't grant him the divorce on the grounds that Minnie is mentally insane.

* ''{{WebVideo/CriticalRole}}:'' Garmelie wants "a piece of a Syngorn threshold crest", meaning a fragment of the magical devices that allows the whole city to travel between the Material Plane and the Feywild, but never explicitly specifying it as such. What Percy gives him is [[spoiler: a piece of a crest which Keyleth molded out of the threshold of the door to their guest room in Syngorn, using the Stone Shape spell]]. Much to Garmelie's dismay, he has to accept this deal as fulfilled.

* One day, a cop pulls a van over, and when he walks up to the window, he sees ten penguins in the back. The cop asks the man, "Are those your penguins?" The man says, "Yes, they are mine." The cop says, "You need to take them to the zoo right now." So the man agrees and drives off. The next day, the cop pulls over the same van, walks up to the window, and sees the ten penguins again. The cop says to the man, "I thought I told you to take those penguins to the zoo." The man says, "I did! Today we're going to the movies!"

* In ''VisualNovel/NineHoursNinePersonsNineDoors'', Zero of all people uses this trope to create unnecessary violence in their Nonary Game with the rules. The goal, as given via a sheet of paper, is to find an exit, a door with a 9 on it. [[spoiler:'''''A''''' door. It never says there is only one, and in fact there are two, but everyone assumes there's only one door 9 because there's just one of every other numbered door, 1 to 8. When this is discovered, one character observes that there was no need for distrust and competition as two doors 9 are enough for everyone to escape. Of course, knowing that from the start might not have prevented various murders since the murderer was familiar with the game's layout anyway.]] Zero also didn't specifically say that [[spoiler: the number 9 doors were at the very end of the game, as the party eventually discovers one more number 9 door blocking the final escape route that's actually a number ''q'' door (which, through the use of base-36 and digital roots as was used all throughout the rest of the game, makes it a number 8 door.)]] Lastly, depending on if you mean the Japanese or English translation of the game, the setup for all this changes. [[spoiler:In Japanese, Zero announces to "seek a door that caries a ''kyuu''", which the cast takes to mean the Japanese word for 9. However, Zero meant the aforementioned "q" door, the true exit to the ship. Meanwhile, to preserve the pun in English, the instructions are changed to written text given to each player, with the font choice making a lower-case q look like a kind of seven-segment-ish 9, (which can be confirmed by looking at the visual made to show the rules sheet in-game).]]

** In the third game, Godot is introduced as yet another prosecutor of legendary skill who has never lost a case. When the judge asks him how many cases he's prosecuted, he answers with... zero. [[spoiler:And this is actually two examples in one: he's never ''prosecuted'' a case before, but he has ''defended'' many cases in the past.]]

** Another example is in Tenmyouji's ending. Tenmyouji and Quark [[spoiler:pick betray, and picking ally results in Sigma asking why they betrayed him. They don't answer, however Tenmyouji promises him that even though both him and Quark have 9 points, they won't open the number 9 door. A moment later, Clover, who had also reached 9 points in her own voting session, opens the number 9 door. Tenmyouji and Quark promptly move to go through it with her, much to Sigma's anger who reminds them of their promise. Tenmyouji then says to Sigma that he promised ''they'' wouldn't ''open'' the number 9 door. Which they didn't, Clover did. They didn't say anything about not escaping]].
** At any ending where someone escapes, the announcer comments that all doors other than the Number 9 Door have been unlocked. [[spoiler:This includes the door nigh-identical to the 9 Door that sits in the warehouse one floor down.]]

->'''General Chang:''' You'll never take this city while I'm alive, monster!\\
'''The Death Knight:''' Terms accepted. ''[stab]''
-->-- ''Webcomic/TheOrderOfTheStick'', [[http://www.giantitp.com/comics/oots0440.html "Flew the Coop"]]

** Volumes later, Team RWBY end up unleashing [[spoiler:the spirit within the Staff of Creation]], who warns them to be careful as to what they want. He's actually impressed at them making sure of this, only disappointed that [[spoiler:their request on saving Penny]] was so concrete that he couldn't play around a bit. [[spoiler:This ends up biting them in the pants with their second request, as when Weiss uses the words "one-way" in her request for a portal network to evacuate the citizens of Atlas and Mantle, Ambrosius obliges exactly as she states.]]