History Main / YouCanAlwaysTellALiar

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Matt Murdock uses his [[SuperHearing superhumanly acute hearing]] to listen to people's heartbeat, and thus can tell when they are lying. He has been fooled on occasion, though, when the person he's talking to is such a practiced liar that they don't have a reaction to it. In one case, he is fooled because the liar has a pacemaker.

[[folder:Anime And Manga]]

** Also features in the second revival round. Fukunaga apparently betrays Team Akiyama by telling Nao's opponent that she has a tell: she blinks twice whenever she lies. Nao's opponent uses this information to wipe the floor with her...but it's all a ruse, one planned by ''[[TheDitz Nao]] [[AllLovingHero herself]]'', and as soon as her opponent is feeling overconfident, Nao lures her into a trap that instantly reverses the situation.
* ''Manga/CaseClosed'' brings up a supposed CIA method of lie detection - bringing the target's face uncomfortably close to their own, checking their pulse and iris at the same time.

* ''ComicBook/{{Daredevil}}'': Matt Murdock uses his superhumanly acute hearing to listen to people's heartbeat, and thus can tell when they are lying. He has been fooled on occasion, though, when the person he's talking to is such a practiced liar that they don't have a reaction to it. And in one case, he was fooled because the liar had a pacemaker.
* ''ComicBook/AdventuresOfSupergirl'': When Alex asks ComicBook/{{Supergirl}} what is eating her, Kara replies "Nothing". Unflappably, Alex points out she knows ''that'' stare -since Kara has done it since they were kids-, so she should stop lying and spit it out.
* ''ComicBook/SinsOfSinister:'' Jon Ironfire is able to spot Destiny is actually Mystique thanks to spotting a bunch of cues. [[spoiler:Soon after, Mystique reveals those were the ones she ''wanted'' him to know about, so she could fool the Brotherhood down the line.]]

'''Annabelle: ''' I did not. ''(looks at the Commodore)'' Did I? ''(the Commodore nods, and Annabelle looks at Angel)'' Did I? ''(Angel nods, and Annabelle looks at the dealer)'' Did I? ''(The dealer nods)'' Well... I'll just pretend I was playing with someone else's money.\\

* The Russian mobster, [[NamesToRunAwayFromReallyFast Teddy KGB]] in ''Film/{{Rounders}}'' played with his oreos as his "tell", as the main character noticed mid-game.
* In ''Film/TheHunt2012'', Theo mentions early on that he knows when Lucas is lying, he sees it in his eyes. When he's lying he blinks. If he's not blinking, he's telling the truth. Lucas did not blink in the church while saying he's innocent. That's the moment Theo realizes his friend [[FalseRapeAccusation did not do]] what they accused him of.

* Comes up in the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' book ''Flag in Exile.'' Honor is facing off against [[spoiler: Steadholder Burdette]] in a sword duel, and the narration goes into detail about tells, which Graysons call the "crease," and how it can be used to predict a swordsman's opponent. It's considered unreliable, since each person has a different "crease," making it difficult to figure out a person's crease without knowing them. Honor is able to instinctively feel [[spoiler:Burdette's]] "crease", allowing her to win the fight. Though even she admits she didn't actually know what [[spoiler:Burdette's]] actual crease was.
* In ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' one of the overall goals of those in charge seems to be to make it so anyone can tell when anyone else is lying, without even trying to. More broadly, to involuntarily know everyone else's thoughts.
* In ''The Space Merchants'' by Creator/FrederikPohl and Cyril M. Kornbluth, the protagonist Mitch Courtenay and his estranged wife, Kathy, each know the other's "Tell". This is a hint about how much they know and love each other.
* In ''Scratch'' by [=Troon McAllister=], the prologue is a 32 hour poker game between the main protagonist (Eddie) and the scene's point of view character (Whitman). He picks up Eddie's tell and proceeds to try to kick his ass...but loses horribly. As Eddie leaves the private poker room, the owner asks if he did his usual bullshit tell.

* ''Literature/{{Discworld}}''
** In ''[[Literature/NightWatchDiscworld Night Watch]]'', when Vimes confronts the Ankh-Morpork Watch officers on their deep-seated corruption, most of them blatantly try to avoid eye contact while looking guilty. The sole exception is Ned Coates, who has the opposite problem: he remains neutral-faced and maintains steady eye contact with Vimes, which Vimes notes is still a tell, just the tell of a ''good'' liar.
** DoubleSubverted in ''Literature/MakingMoney'', when Mrs Lavish says professional conman Moist von Lipwig has the same honest manner as her late husband ... who used to practice it, and genuinely honest people don't do that.

* Once on ''Series/{{MASH}}'' the guys realized that Winchester whistled louder when he was bluffing in poker.
* This trope is pretty much the ''raison d'etre'' for the TV series ''Series/LieToMe''.
* Jack Dalton had a tell on ''Series/{{MacGyver|1985}}'' - anytime he lied, his left eye would twitch.
* Inverted in ''Series/{{Monk}}'': Monk realizes that a suspect who passed a polygraph test was lying when he later told a lie while on a treadmill and didn't show a change in heart rate.
* Olive in ''Series/PushingDaisies'' answers questions with questions when she's hiding something; Ned has a facial twitch.

-->'''Eliot''': You have a tell.\\
'''Hardison''': I have a tell?\\
'''Eliot''': Yes.\\
'''Hardison''': I have a tell for [[SeriousBusiness Rock Paper Scissors]]?\\
'''Eliot''': Yes!
* In ''Series/{{Frasier}}'', Niles' nose bleeds not so much when he's lying as when he's broken his ethical code. Of course, the two overlap.
** Frasier has one as well: when he's knowingly broken his ethical code, he starts having attacks of nausea.
* ''So'' much of the drama ''Series/WizardsOfWaverlyPlace'' is based around lies/lying. Alex in particular knows all about lies and how to spot one.
* The British panel game ''Series/WouldILieToYou'' has this as part of its gimmick. Savvy guests have tried to block or mask their tells for fear of giving something away (one pulled out a pair of sunglasses; another tried to do several at once).
* In the ''Series/DoctorWho'' Christmas episode, "The Snowmen", Silurian Lady Vashtra does this when she questions Clara about her interest in the Doctor, ordering Clara to respond to her questions with single-word answers. In her own words, "Truth is singular. Lies are just words, words, words." Clara remarks on this when Vashtra explains at length on how the Doctor has turned his back on humanity by saying simply, "Words."
* ''Series/{{Supernatural}}''
** In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E22AllHellBreaksLoosePartTwo "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two" (S02, Ep22)]], Dean, who is usually a ConsummateLiar, can not meet Bobby's eyes.
** In "[[Recap/SupernaturalS05E04TheEnd The End]]", Dean travels to a BadFuture, and realises his future self is lying to his soldiers while sending them on a SuicideMission, because he's using the same expressions he rehearsed in the mirror to become a ConsummateLiar.
* ''Series/GameOfThrones'': In [[Recap/GameOfThronesS1E1WinterIsComing the first episode]], Catelyn Stark catches her son Bran climbing the walls of Winterfell. She makes him promise never to do so again, and he promises, while looking at his feet, which she knows is a sign that he's lying. He continues climbing and dire consequences ensue, but not for the reasons Catelyn expects.

* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'': Apollo Justice can tell when a person is lying due to his bracelet tightening in reaction to the tics because [[spoiler:it's made of a special alloy that causes it to expand/contract to a perfect fit on a person wrist due to body heat. Because the bracelet is a perfect fit, it appears to vibrate when a nervous tick is appearing. But what is really happening is that Apollo is sub-consciously aware of the liar's tensing-up. This causes Apollo to tense causing a mini-tell of his own, the muscles in his arm start to twitch and because the bracelet is just tight enough it appears to be reacting.]] Ironically, Apollo's ability is very realistic (not to mention scientifically plausible) in contrast to Phoenix's obviously unrealistic magatama. Trucy has the same ability because [[spoiler: she's Apollo's half-sister]], which makes her an excellent poker player.
* ''VideoGame/LANoire'' used high definition and detailed facial software to make it so the players could better guess if the person they are speaking to is lying to them.
** While early levels obviously have the MotionCapture'd actors ham it up a bit for the player to get used to the tactic, later in the game the tells become much more subtle and realistic.
* Referenced in ''VideoGame/MassEffect2''; [[MadScientist Mordin]] mentions that Salarian body language gives two different instinctive reactions when they're concealing something; one reaction is for when they're concealing something embarrassing or harmful to themselves, and one is for when they're concealing something harmful to the other person. He explains that it is virtually impossible to fake these reactions convincingly, and consequently seeing the first reaction incites Salarians to try and find out what the secret is, while seeing the second usually causes them to back off.
* Every character in the ''VideoGame/PokerNightAtTheInventory'' games have tells that range from the subtle (a really slight head shake or humming to a particular song) to the blatantly obvious (shouting "Yes!" after being dealt a hand, or slamming their head on the table. Repeatedly.).
** [[https://youtu.be/2OfRSSHcm8c Subverted]] in ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'' when [[Franchise/EvilDead Ash Williams]]' artificial hand starts to rhythmically tap on the table. Ash brushes this off as something it just does sometimes, though [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLaDOS]] determines that it's being caused by an external force, and [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros Brock Samson]] [[EveryoneKnowsMorse recognises the tapping as being Morse code]]. The two are able to decipher it as [[RunningGag "Drink more Banang"]], and conclude that the hand has been possessed by a marketing department.
* Early on in ''VideoGame/TalesOfSymphonia'', [[TheHero Lloyd]] calls out [[TheChosenOne Colette]] from constantly withholding the truth about her angel transformation to him, saying he knows when she's lying because she fake giggles every time she lies.

[[folder:Webcomics]]

[[folder:Web Original]]
* In ''Literature/{{Twig}}'', Sylvester is an expert on human socialization, and can often tell when people are trying to lie to him (usually when they try to conceal their tells) but just as often relies upon ''telling'' people that he knows they're lying and watching their response to determine if they actually are.
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* In ''WesternAnimation/FatherOfThePride'', Sarmoti is the only player in a poker game to know everyone's tells, as well as his own. Every other player seems completely oblivious to their own and each others' tells, or even that this aspect of the game exists. Which is odd because one player's tell is so obvious that everyone immediately picks up on it.
* In ''WesternAnimation/{{Home|2015}}'', the Boov's skin color changes from purple to green whenever they lie.

->"You always look at your feet before you lie."
-->--'''Catelyn Stark''' to her son Bran, ''Series/GameOfThrones''

** [[https://youtu.be/2OfRSSHcm8c Subverted]] in ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'' when [[Franchise/TheEvilDead Ash Williams]]' artificial hand starts to rhythmically tap on the table. Ash brushes this off as something it just does sometimes, though [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLaDOS]] determines that it's being caused by an external force, and [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros Brock Samson]] [[EveryoneKnowsMorse recognises the tapping as being Morse code]]. The two are able to decipher it as [[RunningGag "Drink more Banang"]], and conclude that the hand has been possessed by a marketing department.

* Microexpressions are an uncontrollable action that lasts just a fraction of a second. Psychologists have managed to connect these to specific emotions, when they don't match up with what a person says they are likely to not be telling the whole truth.

* Franchise/AceAttorney: Apollo Justice can tell when a person is lying due to his bracelet tightening in reaction to the tics because [[spoiler:it's made of a special alloy that causes it to expand/contract to a perfect fit on a person wrist due to body heat. Because the bracelet is a perfect fit, it appears to vibrate when a nervous tick is appearing. But what is really happening is that Apollo is sub-consciously aware of the liar's tensing-up. This causes Apollo to tense causing a mini-tell of his own, the muscles in his arm start to twitch and because the bracelet is just tight enough it appears to be reacting.]] Ironically, Apollo's ability is very realistic (not to mention scientifically plausible) in contrast to Phoenix's obviously unrealistic magatama. Trucy has the same ability because [[spoiler: she's Apollo's half-sister]], which makes her an excellent poker player.

* In ''[[Literature/NightWatchDiscworld Night Watch]]'', when Vimes confronts the Ankh-Morpork Watch officers on their deep-seated corruption, most of them blatantly try to avoid eye contact while looking guilty. The sole exception is Ned Coates, who has the opposite problem: he remains neutral-faced and maintains steady eye contact with Vimes, which Vimes notes is still a tell, just the tell of a ''good'' liar.

->"You always look at your feet before you lie"

[[folder: Anime And Manga ]]

[[folder: Comic Books ]]

[[folder: Film ]]

[[folder: Literature ]]

[[folder: Live Action TV ]]

[[folder: Radio ]]

[[folder: Video Games ]]

** While early levels obviously have the MoCapped actors ham it up a bit for the player to get used to the tactic, later in the game the tells become much more subtle and realistic.

[[folder:Web Comics]]

-->'''Lucrezia Mongfish:''' ''"Klaus-- Is that you?"''\\
'''Baron Wulfenbach:''' ''"Don't be absurd--"''\\
'''Lucrezia Mongfish:''' ''"Eee! It is you! You're doing that thing you do whenever I catch you at something!"''\\
'''Baron Wulfenbach:''' ''"'''What''' thing?"''\\
'''Lucrezia Mongfish:''' ''"Ha! As if I'd '''tell''' you!"''

[[folder: Web Original ]]

[[folder: Western Animation ]]

[[folder: Real Life ]]

* In ''WesternAnimation/Home(2015)'', the Boov's skin color changes from purple to green whenever they lie.

-->'''Lucrezia Mongfish:''' ''""Klaus-- Is that you?"''\\
'''Baron Wulfenbach:'' ''"Don't be absurd--"''\\

* In ''Comicbook/{{Daredevil}}'', Matt Murdock uses his superhumanly acute hearing to listen to people's heartbeat, and thus can tell when they are lying. He has been fooled on occasion, though, when the person he's talking to is such a practiced liar that they don't have a reaction to it. And in one case, he was fooled because the liar had a pacemaker.

--> '''Eliot''': You have a tell.
--> '''Hardison''': I have a tell?
--> '''Eliot''': Yes.
--> '''Hardison''': I have a tell for [[SeriousBusiness Rock Paper Scissors]]?
--> '''Eliot''': Yes!

** Subverted in ''VideoGame/PokerNight2'' when [[Franchise/TheEvilDead Ash Williams]]' artificial hand rhythmically taps on the table. Ash brushes this off as something it just does sometimes, though [[VideoGame/{{Portal}} GLADoS]] determines that it's being caused by an external force, and [[WesternAnimation/TheVentureBros Brock Samson]] recognises it as being Morse code. The two are able to decipher it as [[RunningGag "Drink more Banang"]], and conclude that the hand has been possessed by a marketing department.

* In ''Manga/DetectiveConan'' they bring up a supposed CIA method of lie detection - bringing the target's face uncomfortably close to their own, checking their pulse and iris at the same time.

* Jack Dalton had a tell on ''Series/MacGyver'' - anytime he lied, his left eye would twitch.

* In ''Film/TheHunt'', Theo mentions early on that he knows when Lucas is lying, he sees it in his eyes. When he's lying he blinks. If he's not blinking, he's telling the truth. Lucas did not blink in the church while saying he's innocent. That's the moment Theo realizes his friend [[FalseRapeAccusation did not do]] what they accused him of.

* Early on in ''VideoGame/TalesofSymphonia'', ,,[[TheHero Lloyd]] calls out [[TheChosenOne Colette]] from constantly withholding the truth about her angel transformation to him, saying he knows when she's lying because she fake giggles every time she lies.

[[folder: Truth In Television ]]

* Microexpressions are an uncontrollable action that lasts just a fraction of a second. Psychologists have managed to connect these to specific emotions, when they don't match up with what a person says they are likely to not be telling the whole truth.
* Psychologists have also discovered that nearly everything most people thinks indicates a liar is wrong. In an experiment on Creator/TheBBC, psychologist Richard Wiseman interviewed Sir Robin Day about his favourite film twice. The first time he talked about ''Film/SomeLikeItHot'', the second time ''Film/GoneWithTheWind''. The viewers were then asked to vote for which was really his favourite film, and the results were split down the middle. The interesting bit was that three quarters of ''radio'' listeners got it right; without the "evidence" of body language and facial expression, they had to base their judgement on what he was actually ''saying''.

[[/folder]]

* In the episode [[Recap/SupernaturalS02E22AllHellBreaksLoosePartTwo "All Hell Breaks Loose, Part Two" (S02, Ep22)]], Dean, who is usually a ConsummateLiar, can not meet Bobby's eyes.