History Main / SomethingOnlyTheyWouldSay

* ''Series/{{Willow}}'': Jade and Kit demand Boorman verify its him as a result of the many magical hallucinations they've experienced in Nockmaar castle. Boorman shows that it's him by making a flippant comment revealing he [[TransparentCloset knows they're attracted to each other]].

** [[Recap/DoctorWhoS33E12NightmareInSilver "Nightmare in Silver"]]: Clara Oswald asks this of the Doctor while he's fighting a BattleInTheCenterOfTheMind. The Doctor starts admitting he's always been attracted to her, only to get an ArmorPiercingSlap which puts the Doctor's real personality back in control. As Clara points out, [[ShipTease even if he did feel that way]], he'd never admit it to her. Later, she asks the Doctor if he thinks she's pretty, and he [[HollywoodHomely insults her]], satisfying Clara that it's the Doctor in control.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode [[TheOuterLimits1963S1E3TheArchitectsOfFear "The Architects of Fear"]] features a poignant example. A man volunteers for a mission to be turned into an alien-like creature, climb inside a fake UFO and launch an "attack" against the earth. (All this as part of a plan by a shadowy organization to bring about world peace by uniting humanity against an external threat.) The plan goes awry however, when the "UFO" crashes and the grotesque "alien" is shot by hunters. The man's pregnant wife (who knows nothing about the mission) arrives on the crash scene and doesn't recognize the ship's alien-looking occupant as her husband--until he does a special pointing gesture that has special meaning for the two of them, just before he dies of his wounds.

* ''Series/TheOuterLimits1963'' episode "The Architects of Fear" features a poignant example. A man volunteers for a mission to be turned into an alien-like creature, climb inside a fake UFO and launch an "attack" against the earth. (All this as part of a plan by a shadowy organization to bring about world peace by uniting humanity against an external threat.) The plan goes awry however, when the "UFO" crashes and the grotesque "alien" is shot by hunters. The man's pregnant wife (who knows nothing about the mission) arrives on the crash scene and doesn't recognize the ship's alien-looking occupant as her husband--until he does a special pointing gesture that has special meaning for the two of them, just before he dies of his wounds.

* In ''Film/WonderWoman2017'', Diana realizes that [[spoiler: British politician Sir Patrick Morgan is actually Ares_the God of war and the film's BigBad_when he reveals himself by saying, "You were right, Diana. They don't deserve our help. [[InYourNatureToDestroyYourselves They only deserve destruction]]", something only Ares would say.]]

** This trope is noticeably common in WesternAnimation/MiraculousLadybug [[TheReveal identity-reveal]] [[FandomSpecificPlot fanfiction]] either in the straight form, where either of them ''choose'' to blow their cover to each other this way; or -- more often -- doing this by accident, saying something the other has heard [[TwoPersonLoveTriangle their other]] [[LovesMyAlterEgo identity]] saying. It's on the way to becoming a FandomSpecificPlot on itself.
** In ''Fanfic/LadyLuckMiraculousLadybug'', this ends up being the reason why there's no MutualMasquerade between Lady Luck and Chat Noir like in the canon series. During her first outing with the Ladybug Miraculous, Chloe ends up tangled up Chat Noir and hears him joke about their situation. She guesses that he's [[ChildhoodFriend Adrien]] from his puns and snarks at him for it, only to see that he's now Chat Noir. Likewise, Chloe's LamePunReaction cues Adrien who she is, meaning both of them know the other's super-hero identity before the glamour could prevent recognition.

* Happens with Tetsuya in ''Anime/MetalFightBeyblade''. He wears a (actually very convincing) disguise to try and steal all of Ginga's beypoints, but is recognized at the last minute because of his alias 'Nigel Crabbypants'. Being openly obsessed with crabs ''does'' have a downside! Who knew?

** Riza comes across a suit of AnimatedArmor claiming to be the executed SerialKiller "Barry the Butcher". Officer Falman is able to confirm it's really Barry's soul bound to the suit by asking him for information about his murders, which he answers in such detail and fondness that it leaves no doubt it really is him. Barry even corrects Falman when he [[BluffTheImpostor intentionally gives the wrong date for one of his killings to see if he would slip up]].

* In the final episode of ''{{LightNovel/Durarara}}'', Mikado guesses that someone in a chatroom is Kida. The response? [[spoiler:Grading Izaya on a scale of 1-10 with the square root of three, a callback to an earlier scene with the pair.]]

* In {{Series/Supernatural}} fanfic series "[[https://archiveofourown.org/series/1321 Sky Verse]]", Sam, Dean and Castiel realize they are vulnerable to impersonation and being tricked into an ambush by their enemies due to their use of cell phones to arrange to meet so they agree on passphrases they must use at the beginning of each phone call which are things they would never normally say and which their enemies would not be able to guess.

** ''Franchise/PowerRangers''
* A meta example occurs in ''Series/PowerRangersMysticForce'': after [[AllYourBaseAreBelongToUs the heroes' HQ gets invaded]], the [[BigGood Mystic Mother]] complains about having a headache. [[spoiler:[[CanonCharacterAllAlong Just like]] how [[Series/MightyMorphinPowerRangers Rita Repulsa]] would do upon her plans being foiled]].

* {{Inverted|Trope}} in chpater 9 of the ''Franchise/AceAttorney'' fic ''[[https://archiveofourown.org/works/36957265/chapters/106615470 Be Careful What You Wish For]]'' where Apollo has to convinces his sisters Diana and Thalia that he isn't their Apollo but rather from an alternatae universe where their father Jove Justice died before the two girls were born. Diana asks him what did she say during her bottom surgery while Thalia asks when is her birthday. The fact that he geuiningly can't answer them and that their Apollo couldn't make such a joke with such sincercity makes them believe he is telling the truth.

* In Webcomic/SluggyFreelance, not so much Something Only They Would Say as Something Only They Would Do. Upon his return [[spoiler:from an alternate dimension]], Torg hugs [[KillerRabbit Bun-Bun]]. This results in the inevitable beating. [[spoiler:At first, the other characters think this proves he isn't their Torg, since their Torg would've known Bun-Bun would beat him up over that. However, they then realize it ''was'' their Torg because he seems happy about getting beaten up, and only he would do something so stupid as use Bun-Bun's aggression to determine whether he's in the right dimension or not]].

* In ''Manga/{{Gintama}}'', this is how the Yorozuya gang ends up identifying all of the players they run into while playing [[AffectionateParody Monkey]] [[VideoGame/MonsterHunter Hunter]] as people they know outside of the game. Some examples include Katsura using his {{Catchphrase}}, and Hasegawa lamenting the fact that he's unemployed.

* {{Inverted|Trope{{ in ''Literature/EndersGame''. Ender, depressed and unwilling to continue his training, receives a letter from his sister Valentine, which is full of various jokes and references that only they share. He realizes that [[spoiler:she wrote it at the behest of his "handlers" in order to cheer him up]], because it's ''too'' full of these references.

* Neatly inverted/played with in ''Literature/EndersGame''. Ender, depressed and unwilling to keep playing the titular game, receives a letter from his sister Valentine, which is full of various jokes and references that only they share. [[spoiler:He realizes that she wrote it at the behest of his "handlers" in order to cheer him up, because it's ''too'' full of these references.]]

* The trope is subverted in the ''Webcomic/{{Housepets}}'' storyline "My Life as a Teenage Squirrel", when Marion, a male human teenager who [[BalefulPolymorph woke up as a female squirrel]] is trying to explain this to his girlfriend, she asks if she's expected to believe this, and he says no, it's utterly unbelievable and nothing he can do or say could prove it. She suggests telling her something only Marion would know, and he describes what was clearly the most embarrassing experience of his life. However, the logically-minded Lois still finds the very idea of such a transformation so unbelievable that she immediately jumps to a more "rational" conclusion instead.

* ''Webcomic/OutOfPlacers'' has Kass undergo a BalefulPolymorph early on. Resident 'medic' Galen doesn't buy it until he's roundly and articulately insulted by the now-yinglet Kass.