History Main / YouJustToldMe

* Used ''heroically'' in MahouSenseiNegima. The WildCard Kurt just finished a HannibalLecture, and made a sort of WeCanRuleTogether speech about saving "everyone", all 92 million of them- Negi then makes an educated, but still wild guess about what the disaster is, and Kurt, shocked, accidentally confirms it- and Negi points out that this confirmation has let loose the minor detail that Kurt's great plan for salvation is planning on abandoning 17/18ths of the planet.

* ''LuckyLuke.'' The cowboys have captured a Native American and try to question him, but the prisoner apparently does not speak English. Lucky Luke serves him a glass of whiskey and asks him if he'd like some rocks on it. "No, thank you", answered the soon-to-be official interpreter.
* Subverted in ''KnightsOfTheDinnerTable'': Brian's opponent in a naval wargame tries this, prompting Brian to "confirm" it by bursting out "How did you know that was my plan?". At the climax of the game, it is revealed that Brian had a different plan all along, and ''deliberately'' did this to mislead his opponent.

* In ''TheGreatEscape'', one of the fleeing British [=POWs=] gives himself away when a suspicious Nazi officer offhandedly wishes him "Good luck!" -- in ''English'' -- causing the Brit to politely respond "Thank you". Made particularly egregious by the fact that the prisoners had previously run DRILLS on just this situation, before escaping the POW camp, and that this particular gentleman had admonished another prisoner for falling for that one.

** In one of Asimov's short mystery stories, the culprit is a Québécois person using a false identity of an American. The detective tricks him into revealing his true identity by asking him to write the word "Montréal", and he writes it with an ''accent aigu'' on the e, whereas someone who only spoke English wouldn't spell it that way.

** In a third Asimov story, "I'm In Marsport Without Hilda", a detective is trying to figure out which of several people in a room is a drug smuggler. All of the innocent suspects are currently [[MushroomSamba loopy]] and speaking stream-of-consciousness gibberish, because they were given a drug to prevent space sickness, and the guilty party is faking it. Unable to figure out who is guilty, the detective, out of frustration, starts telling them about the hot date he would have had, if he wasn't stuck interviewing them. The guilty party's, um, [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean "reaction"]], gives him away.

* Happens in {{Animorphs}}; Cassie (morphed as Rachel) is talking to a [[PuppeteerParasite Controller]], and he suspects her, so he randomly blurts out "Andalite!". If Cassie had reacted, she'd have given herself away, but she plays it cool and responds "[[IncrediblyLamePun Yeah, a light would be good too.]]"

** All Aes Sedai are required to swear a magically binding oath to not speak any word that is not true. They literally choke up any time they are about to actually lie. (Though they are masters of [[FromACertainPointOfView distorting and twisting meanings]].)

* In the last book of the ''CodexAlera'', Tavi and several members of his high command are on a ship under attack by [[HordeOfAlienLocusts Vord]] scouts. Magnus has been suspicious of [[spoiler:Valiar Marcus]] for several books, since he seems to know a little too much about espionage for a decorated soldier, [[spoiler:and particularly Cursor methods of going about it]]. So, at the very end of the fight, he shouts, "[[spoiler:Fidelias]]! Behind you!", [[spoiler:having narrowed down the list of high-level Cursors he could be to one specific traitor.]] Tavi, who had agreed to the plan thinking it would ''exonerate'' his loyal subordinate, is very, very angry when [[spoiler:Marcus]] immediately whirls around.
* In ''[[JediAcademyTrilogy I, Jedi]]'', Corran Horn goes undercover as ''Keiran'' while training at Luke Skywalker's Jedi academy, changing his name since he's a mildly famous pilot. Interestingly, after leaving the academy "Keiran", going by yet another name, is [[BluffTheImpostor questioned about Luke]]. He goes on to display an appalling lack of knowledge about one of the single most famous and important people in the galaxy in order to keep up the ruse.
* In ''[[TheThrawnTrilogy Dark Force Rising]]'', when Mara Jade, a former assassin for Emperor Palpatine, meets with Grand Admiral Thrawn, he says "Come closer, Mara Jade." (The two had met several years before and she was under an assumed name.) She begins instinctively walking forward, catches herself and comments that Thrawn shouldn't have to rely on such cheap tricks to verify who she was. He agrees, and then asks her questions that only she would know the answer to.

* Michael Weston on ''BurnNotice'' pulls a scheme called a "reverse interrogation," in which he lets the criminal interrogate ''him'', and hopes the bad guy will give away important information in his questions. (He does.)

* In one episode of ''{{Monk}}'', the identity of a mail bomber is confirmed when he panics at the sight of someone opening one of his custom-made packages. He shouldn't have known about the bombings because he had been in a coma when they took place. (If you're curious about how he managed to set off the bombings while ''in a coma'', watch the episode in full.) In another episode, he cleared Willie Nelson's name by proving that the other suspect wasn't blind--he had a streaker run past her, and she reacted.

* ''{{Stargate SG-1}}'': This trope is used and parodied in the episode "1969". The team is stranded in a top-secret Air Force facility in 1969, and are suspected of being spies. An Air Force interrogator comes in:

* One {{Bones}} episode ends with her offering everybody in the [[VictimOfTheWeek victim's]] funeral a coup of tea "from his own private stash. The same that was his last drink". [[spoiler:The same one that was poisoned by the victim's mother.]]

* ''HogansHeroes'': The gang's always careful about their captors setting up a plant in their barracks. In one episode they decide to test a new American "guest". In the middle of the night, they all start making noise and shouting "FIRE!" - Kinch yells at him, in German, "Quick! Out the window!" Newbie heads straight for the window.

* ''TheIronGiant'': Annie Hughes is talking to junkyard owner Dean [=McCoppin=]. She mentions Hogarth (her son) sneaking out to the junkyard, and he asks if she knew about it, and she says "I do now".

* A Russian proverbial story tells about a guy who spots a pickpocket in the market. Nobody else seems to do, so the quickwitted fellow shouts: "The thief has his hat on fire!". [[CrowningMomentOfFunny The crook instinctively grabs his headgear]].

[[caption-width:400:Why ''Death Note'' doesn't use this much.]]

** Ling uses something similar to this to confirm that Ed is ''not'' an imposter when they are trapped in Gluttony's stomach. Ling [[Berserk Button calls Edward short]] and Ed, being the real Ed, [[Reflexive Response responds as Ling and the reader would expect.]]

* ''Lucky Luke.'' The cowboys have captured a Native American and try to question him, but the prisoner apparently does not speak English. Lucky Luke serves him a glass of whiskey and asks him if he'd like some rocks on it. "No, thank you", answered the soon-to-be official interpreter.

* Happens during a manhunt in occupied Egypt, in ''Rome''.

** To clarify: [[spoiler: The "Greek Slave" was Caesarion, the son of Cleopatra, and who considered himself a god.]]

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* A popular way to discover who has farted in Latin America is to say "The one whose ears are warm" Naturally it is expected that the person that checks his/her ears is the culprit.

* A Russian proverbial story tells about a guy who spots a pickpocket in the market. Nobody else seems to do, so the quickwitted fellow shouts: "The thief has his hat on fire!". The crook instinctively grabs his headgear.

-->'''Elaine:''' "Did you leave that drink by him on purpose, knowing he's an alcoholic?"

* Egwene uses this in the latest {{Wheel Of Time}} book. Black Ajah are the only Aes Sedai who are lie. She knows that a certain Aes Sedai is Black Ajah and needs to prove it to the rest. She asks her a rapid-fire series of questions, to which any Aes Sedai would give vehement denials. ("Do you consort with the Forsaken?" "Do you serve the Dark One?") Then she asks a question about her target's hair color. Her target denies her own hair color, which proves to the assembled audience that she is Black.