Basic Trope: Someone says that they're not allowed to say something, while saying this exact thing.
- Straight: "I'm not allowed to tell you that Alice's going to be home at six PM."
- Exaggerated: "I'm not allowed to tell you that Alice will be home at six PM and I can't tell you she'll have what I shouldn't know she's stolen from you with her. I also can't talk about the camera which most certainly doesn't hang in the corner of your building."
- Downplayed: "Well, she didn't forbid me from telling you that she'll be home at six PM, but I guess I shouldn't tell you this."
- Justified:
- The person telling this wants to convey to the listener the fact that the matter should remain a secret.
- The speaker is within earshot of Alice's associate when he starts speaking, but she moves away later, letting him tell the secret.
- The speaker comes from a culture with strong norms around politeness, and is exploiting a loophole in them.
- Inverted: "You can't tell me when she'll be home."
- Subverted: "I'm not allowed to tell you when she'll be home, but it'll be whenever she's chosen it to be..."
- Double Subverted: "...and I can't tell you it's six PM".
- Parodied: "I absolutely shouldn't and can't tell you when she'll be home, and I'm not supposed to tell you it'll be six PM" *wink, wink* "and you didn't really hear it because I'm not allowed to tell you and so I didn't tell you this, right?" *smug smile*
- Zig Zagged: "I can't tell you when she'll be home, and incidentally, she'll be home when the clock displays a certain time. What time? Oh, I can't tell you that it's six." Alice then comes home at seven.
- Averted:
- "She'll be home at six PM."
- “I’m not allowed to say when Alice will be home.”
- “Alice never told me when she’d be home.”
- Enforced: It's Establishing Character Moment for a friendlier-than-it-would-seem Mook.
- Lampshaded:
- "Yes, of course. I didn't hear a thing, because you can't tell me that."
- "I can't tell you this, but of course I will, because that's how it works, huh?"
- "I can't tell you this..." "Yeah, just cut to the point."
- Invoked: "So say, just what can't you tell me?"
- Exploited: The character spoken to sneaks up on Alice.
- Defied: "I don't have nearly enough patience to be mysterious about it - she'll be back at six PM."
- Discussed: "Well, you can't tell me this, but you can tell me what you can't tell me, right?" "That's... very confusing, but I think you're right."
- Conversed: "Truly, this mook is not a master of secretiveness."
- Implied:
- "Unfortunately, he couldn't tell me a thing. Also, she'll be home at six PM."
- Alice is informed that there is a leak in the enemy organisation. She then realizes that Bob's slip-ups were actually deliberate.
- Deconstructed: The asker, confident that there won't be any answer halfway through the sentence, closes the door and goes away before the speaker can get to the important part.
- Reconstructed: The speaker calls after him and finishes.
- Played For Laughs: "I'm not allowed to tell you this, but-the-cookies-are-in-a-jar-on-top-of-the-shelf. Of course I'm not allowed to say it, why are you looking at me so strangely?"
- Played For Drama: "I'm not allowed to tell you she'll be home at six PM and please, don't let her know I did, she'd... she'd do..."
I Could Say It, But... I'm not allowed to tell you that the second word of this sentence hides the link to the main page.
