History Main / SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay

** For bonus points, he gives her vague hints at first, and when she tells him, "You can die too for all I care," he ''shouts'' it as he rolls down a hill to apparent doom.

->'''Cyclops:''' ...yeah, it's him.

* In the JamesBond movie ''TheWorldIsNotEnough'', conspirators Sophie Marceau and Robert Carlyle give themselves away by using an identical aphorism - 'There's no point in living if you can't feel alive'.

** Which is silly because [[spoiler:Expelliarmus was taught at Hogwarts, and trained a lot with Dumbledore's Army in the previous book. Sectumsempra might be a trademark spell, but Expelliarmus]] is common as muck.
*** It's not the spell itself so much that the life-or-death nature of the situation would've justified Harry using something more permanently incapacitating, like Stupefy, which is more common by far. Harry is unusually reluctant to Stun people even in life-or-death combat because in this case, even though Harry isn't using the Killing Curse, Stunning someone flying at high altitude and speed on a broomstick would be a guaranteed kill anyway, and Harry [[TechnicalPacifist never kills if he can help it]].

*** The point here is that all Death Eaters are supposed to say "the Dark Lord", so anyone who's found by this spell is at least not an ally. Ironically, if Harry and friends had been more successful at making people unafraid to use Voldemort's name, the spell ''would'' have become useless.

* In ''Eldest'', the 2nd book of the InheritanceCycle, Eragon recognizes the dragon rider in steel armor as his [[spoiler:seemingly dead friend Murtagh]] when he spins his Hand-and-a-Half sword at his hip, much like he did when the two of them trained together.

** In the fourth season, Faith attacks Buffy in her home and activates a magical device during the ensuing fight. Afterwards Joyce asks her daughter if she's all right, and "Buffy" answers with Faith's CatchPhrase (''"I'm five by five"''), letting the viewer know that a body switch has taken place. Later on in the episode, Buffy (in Faith's body) makes reference to the afore-mentionned episode of Giles-turned-Demon to prove Giles it's really her.

** The second season episode Holiday also had a large dose of this.

* Interesting variation in the final episode of {{Blackadder}} II. Blackadder has apparently sold out Queen Elizabeth to a master of disguise for a single key bit of information-in this case, Nursie's habit of dressing up as a cow at dress-up parties.

--->'''Mulder (as Morris)''': Even that yogurt thing? That is so you. That is so Scully. Well, it's good to know you
---> haven't changed. That's somewhat comforting.

** This is an extension of two-part challenge/counter passphrases that are used to identify both approaching troops and the guards. If the approaching troops get first part wrong, they're the enemy. If the guard gets the second part wrong, then the outpost is under enemy control. The most well known use was by the American forces during [[WorldWar2 Operation Overlord]] with the phrase 'Flash', counter 'Thunder', and confirmation 'Welcome', the last part chosen since the Germans would be physically unable to say it correctly (incidentally, one paratrooper was of German origin, and asked 'Vat should I do?') Same reason all American passwords in the Pacific used lots of l sounds ('Lollipop', 'Hallelujah') to trip up the Japanese.

** This is an extension of two-part challenge/counter passphrases that are used to identify both approaching troops and the guards. If the approaching troops get first part wrong, they're the enemy. If the guard gets the second part wrong, then the outpost is under enemy control. It dates back at least to WWII - where the allied troops used the challenge 'Flash' and counter 'Thunder'on D-Day.

* In the FairlyOddParents, in the episode Twistory, George Washington is supplanted by Benidict Arnold in disguise. Timmy discovers who is the true Washington by describing how good the quality of the wood of a coat rack is, the suplanter answers "so what?", but the real George Washington, who is obssesed with chopping anything made of wood, jumps and destroys the poor rack with an axe.

** The second time played it a little straighter with normal-Jackie fighting an evil clone. The good guys want to help but can't tell them apart. Jade figures it out pretty quickly.
-->'''Jade:''' Hey Jackie, can I go to Moose World?

-->'''Jade:''' *disappointed* There's your real one.

* As in the Real Life example above, [[MassEffect quarians]] are taught a certain phrase to use when returning to the Flotilla, as they usually arrive on a different ship than the one they left on. If they don't provide that phrase when prompted, then the Flotilla knows that they're returning under duress, and their ship is destroyed.

* In ''Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire'', Barty Crouch Jr., who is disguised as Mad-Eye Moody, nearly blows his cover when he performs a familiar facial tick in front of his father.

**** Although in hindsight, it might work. Faith was in a coma for a while and this is most likely a piece of information that she would not seek out upon waking.

** You know how that demon that started the whole thing [[Catchphrase is always saying]] "''maa, ii''"/"well, no matter"? [[spoiler:You know how that guy Ronnie who works for the Martillos is always saying the same thing?]]

** That line was used again in the trailer for the upcoming game ''Metroid: Other M'' as a cue to the ''audience'' regarding [[AndTheFandomRejoiced what game Nintendo was announcing.]]

* Elisa Maza of ''{{Gargoyles}}'' identifies her brother when he automatically answers her "cross my heart and hope to die" with "stick a needle in my eye," complete with the particular series of gestures the two of them customarily use with the phrase.
* Actually, when she identifies her brother, it's just "cross my heart," with him answering "hope to...." with the gestures. no "stick a needle in my eye" here.

* In the {{Transformers}} movie, after Megatron's death, people are suddenly surprised by the arrival of a new, purple-and-black robot who crashes [[TheStarscream Starscream's]] coronation. Then he opens his mouth and smugly demeans the Deceptacon's new leader before easily killing him.

* Done at least twice in JackieChanAdventures. The first time, Jackie is split into an overly nice half and an asshole half, and when asked which is the evil one, Nice-Jackie dissolves into tears and proclaims that ''he'' must be the evil one because he just killed a bug. Cue [[AsideGlance aside glances]].

* A variant of this trope appears in an episode of GoofTroop. Goofy and a double, who is a criminal, are in the same room, which Goofy had been wallpapering. Max identifies his father by leaving an open can of wallpaper glue in the middle of the floor and asking his dad to step forward. Both of them step forward, but only the real Goofy steps in the glue.
* In the [[http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Animated/TheLegendOfZelda Legend of Zelda Cartoon]] episode, "Doppleganger", Ganon kidnaps Zelda after using a magic mirror to create a dark-clothed evil Zelda clone to replace her. Late in the episode, the real Zelda has freed herself and both versions end up soaked to the point where it's impossible to tell them apart. Never one to miss a chance for a smooch, Link proposes a kissing contest. He rates the first Zelda's kiss as "very good", but gets a smack in the face instead of a kiss from the second ("*sigh* That's my Zelda all right.")

-->'''Galvatron''': Coronation, Starscream? This is just bad comedy.

* FutariWaPrettyCure has an early story where Poisony is disguised as Honoka, and at one point, Nagisa is confronted by both the fake and the real Honoka, trying to figure out which one is real. Poisony gives herself away by getting Mepple and Mipple mixed up, which is obviously something Honoka wouldn't normally do.

** This is an extension of two-part challenge/counter passphrases are used to identify both approaching troops and the guards. If the approaching troops get first part wrong, they're the enemy. If the guard gets the second part wrong, then the outpost is under enemy control. It dates back at least to WWII - where the allied troops used the challenge 'Flash' and counter 'Thunder'on D-Day.

* In ''{{Metroid}} Fusion'', Samus (and the player) [[spoiler:gets tipped off that the AI she named after her old commanding officer from her army days, Adam Malkovich, really ''[[BrainUploading is]]'' said officer when, after giving her an order, it asks, "Any objections, Lady?" - something her commanding officer always said after giving her a briefing.]]