History Main / ExactWords

* In ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'', a Mina imposter has taken control of the Bund, and even after the inhabitants of the island have figured it out, the blood pact still forces them to obey her. When Akira figures it out and goes off to rescue the real Mina, the fake orders them to find and capture Akira. They capture Akira, but not the MAIN Akira, instead they bring her a resident vampire named Akira.

* Literature/NeroWolfe tends to use ExactWords to get information out of people who are reluctant to give it to him or to prevent having to reveal information he doesn't want to let go.

* In Randall Garrett's science-fiction story "The Best Policy", a man is captured by evil aliens who interrogate him with a device that can detect false statements. Unable to lie to the aliens, he is able to scare them away with technically true statements that give a false impression that humanity is [[SufficientlyAdvancedAlien an immensely ancient and powerful race]]. [[spoiler:Example: He tells them that humans are capable of transporting their bodies from place to place by mentally channeling certain physical energies. He means walking; the aliens think he means teleportation.]]

"Sir, I am no petty noble," the baron answered with great stiffness. "My descent is as lofty as any in your realm. An ancestor of mine, by the name of [[Literature/TheBible Noah]], was once admiral of the combined fleets of my planet."''

* According to the Quran, Iblis, the Islamic equivalent of the Devil, fell from grace after falling foul of one of these. When Allah made a prophecy that one of his most devoted servants would rebel against him, the Angels were greatly troubled and begged Iblis, one of the Djinn, to speak to Allah on their behalf; Iblis, who was loyal to Allah at the time, made Allah swear a promise that none of the Angels would be forced out of Allah's service. When the Angels and Djinn were commanded to bow before Allah's third creation, Adam, Iblis arrogantly objected, and was cursed for his disobedience; Allah had made no mention of Iblis or any of the Djinn in his promise.

** Grubwiggler has no intention of re-animating [[spoiler:Roy's corpse]] as an undead. What he does intend to do is transform it into a bone golem.

* According to the Quran, Iblis, the Islamic equivalent of the Devil, fell from grace after falling foul of one of these. When Allah made a prophecy that one of his most devoted servants would rebel against him, the Angels were greatly troubled and begged Iblis, one of the Djinn, to speak to Allah on their behalf; Iblis, who was loyal to Allah at the time, made Allah swear a promise that none of the Angels would be forced out of Allah's service. Because Allah made no mention of the Djinn in his promise, when the Angels and Djinn were commanded to bow before Allah's third creation, Adam, Iblis arrogantly objected, and was cursed for his disobedience.

** And then there's "The Last Roundup" where Pinkie is royally pissed at Applejack for skipping breakfast and breaking her Pinkie Promise where she promised she'd tell the others why she's refusing to return home; instead using the chance to escape town. When Pinkie confronts AJ about it, she counters that technically she didn't break the promise as she said she would have told them the truth ''at'' breakfast. [[MetaphoricallyTrue Of course, rather than being technically correct, this relies on a rather unnatural interpretation on the exact meaning of the wording used.]]

** A flashback reveals that a very young Uryuu had an argument with his father over being a quincy, where Ryuuken told Uryuu to stop visiting Souken and Uryuu realised for the first time that Ryuuken hated being a quincy. Ryuuken told Uryuu that he had no interest and Uryuu had no talent, so the quincies needed to die with Souken's generation. Uryuu spends years thinking his father has no quincy power until the beginning of the Arrancar Arc when Ryuuken saves his depowered son's life from arrancar.... by using his quincy power. When Uryuu demands to know how it's possible for Ryuuken to possess quincy power, Ryuuken points out he never said he didn't possess quincy power, he simply said he wasn't interested in using it.

* During one of the filler arcs in ''Manga/{{Bleach}}'', Captain Byakuya is ordered to rein in Ichigo who's running off gung-ho trying to solve the problem in a manner that clashes with Soul Society policy. However, since he doesn't agree with said policy himself, he chooses to interpret his orders this way:
-->'''Byakuya:''' I was told to bring you back. I wasn't given any instructions on what to do after that. You are free to do as you wish.
** After his HeelFaceTurn, Byakuya becomes well-versed on this trope. Other examples are his bringing Renji and Rukia back to Soul Society as per orders of [[BigGood Yamamoto's]] (after [[TheChick Orihime]] is kidnapped, and Yamamoto forbade the Shinigami of rescuing her), then subsequently letting them go free, stating more or less the same thing as in the example above... and his defection to [[BigBad Muramasa's]] side in another {{Filler}} arc; when he is asked why he is joining Muramasa, Byakuya states that it's for the sake of his pride. It sounds like an obvious lie, until we find out what ends he's trying to achieve: he knows Muramasa is trying to free his master Kouga Kuchiki, and [[PillarsOfMoralCharacter wants to have an opportunity to kill him and clean the name of the Kuchiki Clan]]... so it really is for the sake of his pride, he just doesn't tell exactly ''how'' joining Muramasa is going to defend his pride.

** Wrestling/JohnMorrison [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9U-RIQbEowg hung on the barricade and walked on it and jumped to the steel steps]]

* In ''Fanfic/APonyOutOfPlace'', Arceus agrees to let "the Ponyta" Flare Blitz stay in Equestria if he wins the Solar Run. Flare evolves into Rapidash mid-race, thus invalidating the agreement.

** Technically neither of them were following this trope, as they both broke the Exact Words of the rules. A purple dragon is, in fact, a "make-believe thing" and is also almost exactly "like a pink dragon". A germ is not an animal. It is either a bacteria, a virus, or in some cases a fungus. The rules very clearly stated that there could be "only animals" and that there could be no things that are "like pink dragons". To be fair to Merlin, though, the story is set ''before'' Linnaeus set up his taxonomy system. Even then, though, if he was going for the virus look, it would've been violation of the rules, as there isn't a virus kingdom... ''if'' he was going for the virus look.

* In ''VideoGame/OdinSphere'', the demon lord Odin asks the shadow knight Oswald to slay the dragon Wagner in exchange for [[spoiler:a castle, a magic spear and the hand of Odin's daughter Gwendolyn]]. After Oswald slays Wagner, Odin demands Oswald give him the magic ring found in the dragon's belly, but Oswald, already planning to give the ring to his new wife as a wedding gift, refuses and points out that Odin only asked him to kill the dragon. When Odin insists, Oswald threatens to kill him and demands his reward, forcing Odin to back down. To be honest though, Odin really did bring this one on himself -- Oswald ''asked'' him why he wanted Wagner killed and Odin refused to tell him. [[WhatAnIdiot If he'd just asked Oswald to bring him the ring, Oswald would have done so freely.]]\\\
To be fair, Odin isn't a very trusting fella, and he knows the ring is ''very'' important, so he feared that if he told Oswald about it, he would keep the ring for himself and run away. What Odin didn't know was that Oswald [[spoiler:was already in love with Gwendolyn, the sole reason he did the job in the first place]], so he didn't really need to be secretive about it.

* This trope is the reason why the Japanese have the JSDF despite renouncing war and giving up on its military. Article 9 of their constitution stated they can't maintain a military for war purposes. However, it never said anything about maintaining an armed force for self-defense purposes. In fairness, they said that they had "renounced the use of war to solve disputes." The original constitution left the possibility of maintaining people under arms for self-defence.

** ''{{Macbeth}}'' runs afoul of this trope in a big way, as he is warned "NoManOfWomanBorn will harm him" (Macduff was the result of a Cesarean section) and that he would not be harmed "Until Birman Wood comes to Dunsinane" (Macduff's allies cut down branches of Birman Wood trees to disguise themselves, using the branches as cover as they storm Dunsinane)

* In ''Anime/PuellaMagiMadokaMagica'', [[spoiler:this is part of Kyubey's way of operating, combined with YouDidntAsk. He never outright lies. When Kyoko asks him if Sayaka can be restored to normal, he says it's never been done before. It's never been done before because it ''can't be done'', but for the purposes of his plan he needed to lure her into trying anyways. He also says that he wouldn't be surprised if a magical girl succeeded in reviving another... except his species can't feel emotions, surprise being one. As a StarfishAlien with BlueAndOrangeMorality, Kyubey doesn't understand ''why'' the girls would think it's important that magical girls are created by [[SoulJar ripping their souls out of their bodies]], effectively turning them into [[OurLichesAreDifferent liches]] and that TheCorruption will eventually [[AndThenJohnWasAZombie turn them into the same beings that they're fighting against]], but he knows ''they'' think it's important, which is why he dances around the issue.]]

* ''Manga/SuicideIsland'': In the first issue, patients who have attempted suicide are offered a choice to live on or die. A number of patients choose to die. They sign some papers and are put to sleep with drugs. HOWEVER, they wake regain consciousness and find themselves on the title island. The patients find a sign nearby posted by the Japanese government saying that everyone on the island is now an UnPerson and essentially "dead" to the government, and they can do whatever they want on this island, as long as they don't try to leave. Yep, the patients got more than they bargained for and you can be sure that they were unhappy when they found out the government pulled this trope on them!

* In ''Manga/DanceInTheVampireBund'', a Mina imposter has taken control of the Bund, and even after the inhabitants of the island have figured it out, the blood pact still forces them to obey her. When Akira figures it out and goes off to rescue the real Mina, the fake orders them to find and capture Akira. They capture Akira, but not the MAIN Akira, instead they bring her a resident vampire named Akira. CMOA anyone?