History Main / IknowYouKnowIKnow

* Very common in counter-espionage, classic example is [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funkspiel Radio Game]]. Allied set a spy, germans kenw that he was a a spy and turned him, allied knew that the germans knew, germans knew that the allied knew that they knew and finally ended the charade.
* During World War II, the allies realized that one could confuse enemy radar by dropping small pieces of aluminum, i.e, chaff, [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chaff_%28countermeasure%29 but didn't do this because they were concerned that if they did, the Germans would figure this out]]. As it turned out the Germans had also discovered this but weren't doing it because of the same logic.
* Studies of animal intelligence sometimes use this trope as an analogy to model a species' cleverness in social interaction. Humans are the only species known to be able to do five levels of I/you know/think, while other great apes seem able to manage four (e.g. they can bluff and ''be subtle about it'' so the other ape won't catch wise). Or the apes are [[AlternateCharacterInterpretation far better at it]] than humans.

--> '''Subject 1''': I know what you're thinking
--> '''Subject 2''': I know that you know what I'm thinking!
--> '''Subject 1''': I know that you know that I know what you're thinking!
--> '''Subject 2''': i know that you know that I know that you know what I'm thinking!

--->'''Schlock:''' The boy handler laughed at your know-know joke.

* In ''Anime/LogHorizon'', there's a fair amount of this going on when the Eastal Alliance approaches the Round Table Conference for help against the goblin armies. Eastal desperately needs the Adventurers' superior military abilities, but they don't want to appear vulnerable, lest they make themselves out to be weak. The Round Table Conference, meanwhile, wants to help but don't want to make it seem like they are subservient or inferior to Eastal, lest the Eastal nobility think they can order the Adventurers around whenever they want. And of course, each side of the discussion is aware of the other side's agenda, and the fact that the other side knows their agenda. What follows is a complex and delicate battle of VerbalJudo between the two powers as they try to be allies while saving face.

* Monkeyed around with in ''MysteryMen''; see the page quote.

* In ''{{Sneakers}}'', Martin is interrupted while breaking into an office. In the course of inventing a plausible explanation for why he's there, he finds himself inadvertently entangled in one of these:

* The villain of ''UnderSiege 2'' does this while explaining to the muscle of the operation that he's going to demonstrate the power of his ''earthquake''-shooting satellite by using it on a fertilizer plant in China: "[The fertilizer plant] is actually a secret chemical weapons testing facility. We know this. The Chinese know that we know. However, we pretend we don't know, and they pretend they don't know that we know that they know we know. But know that we know. In the end, everyone knows."
* Inverted in a long-distance sort of way in ''WeWereSoldiers'', where throughout the entire battle, Colonel Hal Moore emphatically ''knew'' what his Vietnamese counterpart was going to try, whereas the Vietnamese CO emphatically did ''not''.

* In ''Dodgeball'':

* A variation in the movie ''WhyMe?''

* ''DownWithLove'', several times, one of them also counting as a HurricaneOfPuns, as the discussion concerns two magazines called "Know Magazine" and "Now magazine"

* ''ComingToAmerica'' has this happen as Prince Akeem meets his [[ExtremeDoormat bride-to-be]]:

** The series finale may be the largest example of this anywhere. Light and Near are somewhere around eight deep into this, both of them believing that they are one step ahead of the other.

* An episode of ''SamuraiJack'' had [[TheProtagonist Jack]] and [[BigBad Aku]] agreeing to a final duel with no swords or special powers. Naturally, [[ILied Aku cheats]], which Jack prepared for by bringing his sword and hiding it. But Aku knew Jack would know that he cheated, and had a minion find the sword. But Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku would cheat, so he planted a decoy sword. But Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku would cheat, so he had his minions look for more swords. But [[OverlyLongGag Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku knew that Jack knew that Aku would cheat]], so he had his sword [[spoiler:buried underground]].

* ''RoundTheHorne'''s [[LargeHam Overwrought romantic couple]] Charles and Fiona occasionally have exchanges like:

** "Eh. Who cares? I'm just gonna attack."

* Comes up in economic theory, as a result of the tendency of economists to use "rational economic actor" to mean a nigh-omniscient agent who outdoes Spock in terms of rigid logic.

* The Bride says this at the end of ''KillBill'':

* Hank Green's "I Know (A Song in Ten Words)", heard [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7lRldr2BH2M here]].

* The ''DinosaurKing'' DS game descends into this sometimes with the hints that opponents give about their next move.

[[ProperlyParanoid Paranoia]] can be a [[CrazySurvivalist funny thing]]. It seems no matter [[CrazyPrepared how well you've prepared or you how you anticipate possible outcomes]], there's always someone who can mess your plan up if he knows about it. Ah, but how do you know he knows? He may be acting like he doesn't know so you won't do anything different that he can't predict. This, inevitably, leads to the following paranoid rant:

Usually results in an OverlyLongGag. Frequently ends with an ''"I DidntSeeThatComing"''. May result in ArchiveBinge-like behavior when plans are laid for both eventualities, and then for both of those eventualities, and then all four of those, and then all sixteen... This may develop into an GambitRoulette if it hasn't done so already.

* ''Anime/NeonGenesisEvangelion'' is based around this trope [[ManipulativeBastard Gendo Ikari's]] relation with [[TheOmniscientCouncilOfVagueness SEELE]] for instance. They each know that the other is planning to betray them, so both work with that, but both know that the other knows. They just keep on trying to get one step ahead using their unimportant pawns, such as Shinji, Rei, Asuka, Toji, Kaworu etc. Both are surprised when [[spoiler:one of their pawns (Rei) decides to end the world rather spectacularily in favor of another pawn. So all the planning failed. Suckers.]]
* ''Every'' fight during the second part of ''Manga/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' follows this pattern. Jojo attacks, the opponent declares they saw it coming and counters, Jojo explains he saw ''that'' coming and twists the attack as needed, and so on until one side or the other goes down. This carries over to later parts of the series - For example: Jotaro "faking" his genuine ability to [[spoiler:move through stopped time]] so that Dio would be caught off-guard after calling him on his apparent bluff.

* A major plot point of a certain ''SpiceAndWolf'' arc. Holo is a semi-deity, one incredibly adept at quick thinking and long term planning both. Her [[SherlockScan sharp senses]] and silver tongue can turn practically any bargain into an incredible deal. So when Lawrence manages to find himself in a make-or-break financial showdown with Amati, (who is ''also'' an incredible merchant), he almost breaks down trying to out-think their combined plans. [[spoiler: Holo was actually helping him the whole time, he was just so distraught over the matter that he missed the hints she was dropping, and completely misinterpreted the few he caught.]]

** Harry succesfully pulls this off in his first interaction with Lucius Malfoy, quite possibly by accident. When Lucius makes veiled references Harry responds by playing along... badly. His deception is so obvious that Lucius sees through it almost immediately. Then Lucius starts to think it was *too* easy - Harry must have been only pretending to be a fool that pretended to understand. He says as much, and walks away, apparantly confident that his original message was conveyed. Meanwhile Harry doesn't have the faintest clue what's going on.

* Played with in ''FanFic/MyImmortal''. When [[strike: Ebony]] Enoby travels back in time, she knows that [[strike:Snape]] Snoop possessed [[strike:James]] Samaro and made him kill [[strike:Lucious]] Lucian. She, however, did not "want them to know [she] knew." Whether or not Tom knew she knew is not made clear, but it is likely, as [[spoiler:he is Volxemort and commanded Snop.]] "Suddenly it's a {{sitcom}}," the dramatic reading snarked at this bit.

** [[spoiler: and give him he-- he...lp.]]
*** [[spoiler: Give him head?! -- Be a beacon?!]]

-->'''Barbara Novak:''' I knew the minute [[spoiler: I placed an ad as an equal-oportunity employer, you would be the first to apply.]]
-->'''Catcher Block:''' And I knew you knew [[spoiler: and you'd let me in to ask you to marry me.]]
-->'''Barbara Novak:''' [[spoiler: But you didn't know I'd say yes!]]
** And Barbara's entire speech at the end where she reveals [[spoiler: that she knew everything that happened in the movie would happen and planned the entire plot accordingly.]]

* One classic example from the SecondWorldWar: an agent was sent to Great Britain by the Germans, who intended that the British intelligence service capture him and use him as a double agent, at which point he could tell the Germans how British counterintelligence functioned. He proceeded to explain this plan to the Brits, who then had him send back two different sets of reports to Germany. One contained what the Brits wanted the Germans to know; the other contained what the Brits wanted the Germans to think the Brits wanted them to know.

* Taken to extremes in the ''DangerMouse'' episode "The Statue of Liberty Caper", where Danger Mouse and Baron Greenback both try to outwit each other with regards to the location of a trapdoor in the floor, leading Danger Mouse to say "I guessed that you'd guess I guessed you guessed I'd guessed you'd guessed and out-guessed your guess, I guess".

* Vetinari plays this game subtly off-screen in ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''. Specifically, his package to Uberwald was clearly tampered with, as expected, and he specifically uses codes that are ''almost'' unbreakable. (As for himself? He ''always'' poisons both glasses. It doesn't matter who knows what, he gets out ahead either way!)
** If the codes were really unbreakable, how would he ever know what they thought he thought?

* In Creator/NealStephenson's ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'', Detachment 2702 exists to generate enough random noise to cover up the fact that the Allies have broken German and Japanese ciphers. It stands to reason that if the Axis finds out, they'll switch to a new cipher, so being able to act on the information they got without revealing they have this information becomes very important.

Not to be confused with [[TeganAndSara "I Know I Know I Know"]].

* The Warhammer40K comic ''DamnationCrusade'' has two Black Templars discover that the Chaos forces have run off despite not being particularly close to defeat, leaving behind heavy weapons and vehicles of great strategic value. One wonders why they ran off, the other thinks it's a trap, the first wonders if that's what the Chaos commanders ''want'' them to think, etc.

* Characters in the LymondChronicles are prone this. A particularly risible example is in TheGameOfKings, where Lymond, who is trying to help the Scottish forces, and knows his brother will disbelieve anything he says, LIES to him about the English intentions, knowing Richard will conclude the opposite.

-->[[spoiler:So, basically, Theron knew that Raonar and Alim knew some things they didn't, and he also knew that Raonar knew that he knew this, but did not bother pointing it out or taking measures to prevent the tattooed elf, in the future, from coming to know of everything else Alim came to know, as long as said mage did not come to know of the hunter's knowing of what he thought everyone else did not know, meaning that Theron did not have to bother getting into the habit of finding lounging spots any way farther, since Raonar either did not have anything specifically against it or knew he was not going to inform the others of his knowing that Alim, who did not know that he knew of his knowing of things that only Raonar knew more about, knew more than what he thought he knew the others did.]]

-->[[spoiler:Theron had continued to not-truly-eavesdrop on them occasionally, wondering when the crooked dwarf would come forth and inform Alim that, despite what he thought he knew, what he really knew was less than he believed, considering that he thought he knew for sure that no one besides the commander knew what he knew, and that, by extension, no one else knew he knew of those things, when in fact Theron had always known them without his knowing, Alim having been prevented from coming to know that the Dalish elf had always known of his knowing, as well as of Raonar's knowing that the latter knew whatever Alim knew of what he believed only the two of them knew, plus that Alim did not, in fact, know that Theron knew of his supposed knowing that no one besides the exile knew of his knowing of those things (a conviction which was false).]]