"WARMACHINEROX with an x, all caps."
— Iron Patriot, Iron Man 3
Passwords are a necessary evil in this modern world we live in, where we want things kept secret from others. Good passwords are often long and complicated affairs involving random smatterings of letters, numbers, and symbols. Bad passwords are simple things like "password" and "12345" and "cat".
Then, there are the embarrassing passwords. These passwords more often than not overlap with the "bad" ones, but they're doubly bad because they reveal something that the owner might not want others to know. And when that password gets out, hilarity is likely to ensue. The password to the evil super genius's main computer is "Adam Sandler"? I guess even the smartest of geniuses can like stupid comedy sometimes....
Or perhaps they deliberately choose a silly password precisely because (they believe) no one would guess it. After all, who would think a Properly Paranoid security chief would choose "Peekaboo" as their spoken password?
Compare The Password Is Always "Swordfish".
Examples:
open/close all folders
Comic Strips
- Calvin and Hobbes: Hobbes gets to the treehouse first and refuses to lower the ladder
until Calvin recites the password, a multi-verse ode to how awesome tigers are. In another, Calvin argues for a while, but finally gives in... just as Susie walks by.
Susie: I was going to ask him to come over and play house, but I think you'd be a weird example for our children. - FoxTrot: Jason's username is his name, and his password is "IS_A_STUD''. He explains that this makes his user account safe from his older sister:
Jason: She may be able to guess it, but she'll never be able to type it.
Fan Works
- Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] Abridged has a variant, after Shirou's trying to recover from a Heroic RRoD, and Archer unexpectedly comes by to offer his assistance to someone he openly despises.
Saber: What's the catch?
Archer: Rin used a Seal and... kinda... she made it so I can't go near you unless I ask and you give permission. I have to ask a certain way. The catch is, you immediately erase this from your memory.
Shirou: O-kay...
Archer: (slowly, still in a Baritone of Strength) Mista Shiwou, big tuff muscle myan, would it be okay if wittle ole' me mosey'd on over dere for a byit?
(Stunned Silence)
Shirou: Yeah. Yeah, it's uh, it's okay. - During Operation: OPPOSITE, Numbuh 362 needs to override the defense systems in the moonbase in order to defeat her Negaverse counterpart. After typing in the override a few times doesn't work, the computer reveals she has to say the password out loud, with three others in the room no less:
Numbuh 362: Supreme Leader authorization password: brit1luver362.
Film — Animated
- In The LEGO Batman Movie, when Alfred reveals he put a Parental Lock on Batman's Supercomputer, Batman says that he can still override it with his "Super Secret Password". Alfred, however, already knows that the password is "Alfred da buttler" with two Ts. Batman bursts into laughter.
Films — Live-Action
- In Bring Me the Head of the Machine Gun Woman, the pass phrase to get into Mecánico's workshop is the deliberately homoerotic "I want you to check my oil. You will need to go very deep."
- James Bond:
- You Only Live Twice has a Trust Password that Bond is supposed to expect from his (as yet unknown to him) contact in the Japanese S.I.S. The contact turns out to be a Japanese man, leading to the trust password:
Tiger Tanaka: I... love you.
James Bond: I'm glad we got that out of the way.- An inversion happens in GoldenEye; genius hacker Boris is constantly using sexual remarks towards a woman's anatomy for all his passwords and isn't ashamed to let others know it — what is right in front of you and open very large doors? ("KNOCKERS") Later in the movie, Natalya gets an opportunity to trace Boris's location because he's online backing up his files, but she can't figure out the current password — "You sit on this, but can't take it with you." Natalya tries every embarrassing word she can think of for a woman's butt. Stumped, she tell Bond about it, and he replies with "CHAIR". Natalya is embarrassed that she didn't think of that.
- Marvel Cinematic Universe:
- Rhodey spends most of Iron Man 3 trying to defend his armor's rebranding by the US government from "War Machine" to "Iron Patriot". Then when Tony presses him for his password to do some hacking, he admits it's "WARMACHINEROX"note . The terrorists Rhodey is holding up at the time laugh at him until he points a bigger gun at them.
- In Spider-Man: Far From Home, Happy Hogan's smartphone password is "password". Peter calls him on this when Happy's supposed to be a security consultant.
- The Peacemaker: The German boss of the mafia front company is forced to reveal the password to his computer, which turns out to be "Hasselhoff". Guess Germans love David Hasselhoff.
- Spaceballs classically lampoons this trope. The password is, naturally, 1-2-3-4-5 (the kind of password "an idiot would have on his luggage." Which, of course, it turns out he does).
- In Spy Kids, the password to the base the kids find turns out to be their names. Unfortunately...
- In Yannick the titular character has taken everyone in a theatre room hostages, threatening them with a gun. He borrows a computer from a man in the audience and asks him for his password. He has ordered him to stay on his seat so the man has to say it loud: vaginal. Yannick says that he is a pervert and asks how he spells it, causing further embarassment.
Jokes
- There's an old joke about a man who's having his secretary help him set up a password on his new computer. She asks what he wants his password to be. He tells her, "Penis". And the computer says, "Error: Too Short".
- In the same vein, the joke with a computer being extremely picky with the allowed passwords (use of blanks, special characters, caps, length etc.). The poor user goes berserk and types in a string of obscenities as suggested password. Result: "Sorry, this password is already taken." (Telling your users another user has the same password is terrible security, incidentally — all you've got to do is try that password with each username 'til you get lucky — but it's happened.)
- A variation on the joke has the user attempting to reset their password after forgetting it, typing in curses out of frustration at arcane security requirements, and being sternly informed passwords cannot be reused. (Or, in more optimistic variations, the password cursing doesn't need to be reset.)
Literature
- Combatants Will Be Dispatched!: When Six and Alice reboot Grace Kingdom's rainmaking device, Six immediately sets the password to "Dick Festival" just so he can watch an embarrassed Princess Tillis say it in public. Alice points out that since any member of the royal family can use the device, the king will probably be using it too. Sure enough, in volume 2, the king runs away because he'd rather the drought continue than say it in public.
- Harry Potter:
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Ministry of Magic encourages people to devise security questions with their loved ones. One of the security questions between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley is:
Mr. Weasley: What do you like me to call you when we're alone together?
Mrs. Weasley: Mollywobbles. - The password to Dumbledore's office is always a type of candy. At one point in Goblet of Fire, Harry, trying to get inside, lists off every single magical candy he can think of, only to find the correct one is "Cockroach Cluster".
- In Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, the Ministry of Magic encourages people to devise security questions with their loved ones. One of the security questions between Mr. and Mrs. Weasley is:
- Inverted in Heaven Official’s Blessing: Tian Guan Ci Fu when Qi Rong sets the release password to the Ghost Fire Locks trapping the human prisoners in one of his Cannibal Larders to "Dog-Fucked Xie Lian" which isn't embarrassing at all for Qi Rong, but is very embarrassing for Xie Lian and Hua Cheng who are trying to rescue the prisoners. Since Qi Rong isn't stupid enough to think that Xie Lian would put his own dignity ahead of an innocent life, the password also has to be in Qi Rong's voice. Fortunately, Hua Cheng has a recording device.
- At one point in the Honorverse story Fanatic, Victor Cachat needs to give another character the passwords to some encrypted files. One of those passwords is "shakehertail", and everyone present finds out that a State Security Captain can blush.
- In one of the Sven Hassel novels, 2 Section are trying to sneak through the Russian lines when they're challenged by a sentry. Tiny's response is to swear at him in Russian which apparently works, causing them to wonder if the Russians are using obscene passwords or the sentry was too indignant to respond.
- In Spock's World, McCoy protects his files with a dramatic passphrase that he's chagrined to have to recite in front of others: "If blood be the price of admiralty, Lord God we ha' paid it full". The keeper of the files sweetly refuses to release them without the phrase, purely to twit him.
Live-Action TV
- Babylon 5: Invoked by security chief Michael Garibaldi. His spoken password for critical authorizations of computer functions is...
Ivanova: "Peekaboo"?
Garibaldi: Hey, would you have guessed it? - Brooklyn Nine-Nine reveals that the large, muscular Sgt. Jefford's password is "yogurt", because Terry loves yogurt.
- The Caesars, like I, Claudius after it, includes a nod to Emperor Caligula's fondness for giving his guards embarrassing passwords, such as "Cupid" or "Loveykins", which make them sound as though they are flirting with each other. "Loveykins" in particular is the last straw for Cassius Chaerea, who joins the conspiracy against Caligula.
- Get Smart: Max has to contact an unknown double agent with the password "Pussycat, pussycat, where have you been?" — he stares uncomfortably at at a big surly hulk until the guy grabs him by the lapels.
Hulk: Listen, bud, I don't like people to look at me funny!
Max: Well, if you don't like the way I'm looking at you you're gonna hate what I'm gonna say to you! - I, Claudius: Emperor Caligula makes the head of his Praetorian Guard use the password "Give us a kiss", which he thinks is quite amusing. It's later revealed that his other passwords include "Bottoms up" and "Touch me Titus". The humiliated man gets his revenge by joining the plot to have him assassinated.
- The MacGyver (1985) episode "Ugly Duckling" revolves around a teenage computer hacker; at one point, MacGyver has to guess her computer password, and it turns out to be "uglyduckling".
- In one episode of Power Rangers RPM, the Rangers have to figure out Dr. K's password to locate and rescue her and Ziggy. Summer eventually figures it out that it's... "Ziggy", though she covers for K by claiming to the rest of the team that it's "Mr Marshmallow" after her Sweet Tooth.
- One episode of Seinfeld centers around the reveal of George's ATM password, "Bosco". George is ashamed at how much this shows his adoration for the chocolate syrup brand.
- In one episode of The Suite Life of Zack & Cody London sends the Delivery Not Desired email Maddie writes to Mr. Moseby and the group breaks into Mr. Moseby's office to delete it before he reads it. When attempting to guess Mr. Moseby's email password, Esteban suggests that it may be "Esteban Is The Most Amazing Person In The World".
- Veronica Mars:
- Mayor Woody Goodman's password is stated to be Mr. Good Wood (without the period, of course).Considering this is only an episode before we learn he is a child molester, this is also a disturbing password
- Veronica comments on how adorable it is that criminology TA and wannabe amateur sleuth Tim Foyle's password is Dick Tracy.
- Discussed in The Wrong Mans. Phil thinks that Lizzie's password is "samhasnopubes", since they had broken up recently.
Video Games
- In PAYDAY 2, one possible objective in the Hoxton Breakout mission is to hack into the computer of the director of the FBI. After cracking the password, Hoxton can express amusement that the director's password is "iheartrainbows44".
- Seemingly used in StarCraft: Brood War's Terran campaign during the mission to infiltrate the Psi Disruptor. One scientist seems a little nervous to admit that his password is "Farnham". (Though it might be more to do with the fact your marines have a gun to his head... he doesn't stay embarrassed for long anyway)
Web Comics
- In Homestuck, Karkat is justifiably unwilling to reveal his password, which doubles as a Call-Back to a previous line addressing him:
"IF I HATE MYSELF SO MUCH WHY DON'T I JUST HATEMARRY MYSELF?"
- In MoringMark - TOH Comics, Amity offers to give some kids a tour of her lab. She tries to whisper the voice activated password to the lock, but it keeps on asking her to speak louder, eventually resulting in her having to yell "I love my fluffy otter girlfriend!" in front of the kids.
Web Original
- Annoy the Bastard Operator from Hell by forgetting your password once too often and he will 1) change it to something embarrassing or insulting and 2) take away your ability to change it again.
Western Animation
- American Dad!: Not a password, but the activation code for Hailey's programming is something that nobody would ever say by accident: "I'm getting fed up with this orgasm!"
- An episode of Beavis and Butt-Head had someone who didn't realize they had an embarrassing ATM password. A pro basketball player accidentally left his card in the machine (he tried to make it look like he had been mugged) and when our boys showed up, Beavis decided to type in a rude word just for fun. It turned out "balls" was the pro's password.
- Bucky O'Hare and the Toad Wars!:
S.P.A.C.E. Representative: (saluting) "Fish stink from the head."
Bucky: (saluting) "Toads stink from the feet."
S.P.A.C.E. Representative: Yeah, them's the passwords. I guess you're all right. (under his breath) Who thought of these stupid passwords...? - In Code Lyoko, the code for the self-virtualization into the Mountain Sector is "Big Fat Cheese-Head". Aelita claims it's a personal joke between her and Jérémie.
- Gargoyles has a Played for Drama example, as at the end of the "City of Stone" multi-parter Demona suffers a Villainous BSoD and reveals that the access code needed to end her scheme is "alone". Sadly, she quickly slips back into denial about her actions.
- An episode of My Gym Partner's a Monkey reveals that Principal Pixiefrog's password is "pollywogadoodle24".
- In the episode "Comet Karmillian" of Phineas and Ferb, Doofenshmirtz's computer password is revealed to be "doofalicious". To add insult to injury, the computer even reads it out aloud.
- In ReBoot, when dealing with pirates (actually, when making a deal with pirates), Dot reveals that her PDA password is "Guardian". This earns amused smiles from her friends.
- Regular Show: Margret's password to her voicemail is "daddysgirl".
- In Rise of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, after the brothers get stuck together due to a "team building exercise" that Raph came up with, they go to Donnie's computer to try and figure out a way to split them apart—but when they have to type a password, Donnie initially refuses to say what it is, but can't type it in himself since his hands aren't available because of the way they're stuck together. After Mikey guesses stuff like "ilovemyfamily" and "ilovemybrothers," a frustrated Donnie's reluctantly admits that it's actually "Bootyyyshaker9000."
Donnie: (defensively as his brothers chuckle after learning his password) What!? You know I like to dance! Not gonna apologize for that!
- In the final episode of Space Ghost Coast to Coast, while the gang tries to run the show without a budget, Space Ghost tells Zorak and Mortar to go on the internet to order a robot:
Space Ghost: Sign on with my screenname.
Moltar: Okay, what's your screenname?
Space Ghost: "Refresher", password "dianarossfan".
Zorak: Huh-ho! You like her? [laughs]
Moltar: Who doesn't?
Space Ghost: Shut up! Now I don't like her. - In the Wander over Yonder episode "The Axe," Lord Hater unceremoniously fires his Dragon Commander Peepers, then asks him for his login info so he can erase him from the ship's computer system. He's unmoved by the fact that the password is "h8rnp33p3rs4evr."
- What If…? (2021): Coulson's password is revealed to be "#SteveSteveSteveIHeartSteve0704".
Real Life
