The problem: Accidental Truth is a trope about when a character is about to get caught telling a lie, but the lie turns out to be true, thereby saving the liar from being revealed. Per the description:

The original TLP backs up this definition as well, for the record.

Unfortunately, the name "Accidental Truth" does not explicitly spell out the requirement that the lie save the liar from being revealed—and neither does the Laconic:

This, according to Tropes Needing TRS, has led to misuse. So, as part of my drive to clear out the backlog of Tropes Needing TRS, I decided to do a wick check on this trope to see if there was a problem.

Wick check: Link here, but here's the quick results:

• 0/50 examples were correctly used, or 0%
• 44/50 examples concerned an accidentally true lie that did not save the liar from being revealed, or 88%
• 2/50 examples were of other misuse, or 4%, and
• 4/50 examples were zero-context or unclear, or 8%

Analysis: I was not expecting there to be zero correct examples. Nearly all examples concerned accidentally true statements that did not save the liar from being revealed, and some weren't even of lies at all. The total lack of correct use furthermore confirmed my suspicion that the overly-broad name was contributing to misuse — and the Laconic probably didn't help either.

Possible solutions: I've got two mutually-exclusive ones.

• If we deem any accidentally true statement to be a trope, we can just expand to that use. Wick cleanup probably wouldn't be required/hard if we did that, though I question whether that would be too broad of a trope.
• If we do not deem any accidentally true statement to be a trope, we could just disambiguate with other lying tropes or cut outright. There are 3,647 inbounds and 856 wicks, so I don't think we'd lose that much if we cut, but if we want to keep those we could just disambiguate.

What does everyone else think? Any other ideas or suggestions?

1. Characters.Kannagi Crazy Shrine Maidens: Nagi makes up a story about having a Split Personality to get out of trouble early on in the series. Jin thought it was weird that Nagi came up with such a lame excuse when she can make her other lies sound more plausible. That's because that wasn't a lie and Nagi didn't even know it. No mention of the accidentally true lie saving the liar from being revealed.
2. Characters.A Man Of Iron The Baratheons Of Dragonstone And Storms End: Thor tells Jane she is the Queen Westeros deserves to have. Then it turns out he was only half-right - because Jane, as Loki's heir, is fated to become Asgards Queen. As written, the lie doesn't save the liar from being revealed.'
3. EveryoneHasStandards.Western Animation: In the episode "One Krabs' Trash", Mr. Krabs finds out that a novelty soda dispenser hat he sold SpongeBob is worth a fortune and tries to trick SpongeBob into giving the hat up by claiming that a curse will fall on him if he doesn't return the hat to its original owner Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen. When Mr. Krabs finds out that Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen was real and that the novelty hat really did belong to him when he was alive, he ends up having to fight against Smitty and other undead fish over the hat. When surrounded, Krabs worries that the undead fish will eat his internal organs and leave what's left for the buzzards. Smitty replies that that sort of thing is disgusting and that he only wants Krabs to give the hat back. Accidentally true lie does not save the liar at all.
4. Literature.The Legend Of Sun Knight: To save his own skin, The fat pig king accuses Roland, a former Royal Knight, of seducing the princess. Turns out, there was in fact a Royal Knight who was secretly the princess's lover... As written, accidentally true lie does not save the liar from being revealed.
5. Recap.Star Wars Rebels S 4 E 09 DUME: Imperial Propaganda does have a tendency to stretch the truth, but for once, nothing more could accurately describe the current situation regarding the heroes: the rebels ARE crushed by Kanan's death and their leadership has been defeated not just from the death of Kanan, but Hera feels so demoralized as a leader.
   • In his wolf dream, Ezra accidentally speaks to his current state of grief without realizing it.
     Ezra: I've lived on this planet my whole life! How can I still get lost? I have no idea which way to go... Neither poorly-indented example is correct—the accidentally true lies don't save the liars.
6. ScarletLady.Tropes H To J: Chloé declares Adrien the winner in his bout against Kagami simply because of her crush on him. However, Kagami had in fact made various illegal moves in the bout, so there was truth to Chloé's call, even if she clearly isn't aware of it. Not only that, Word of God states that Adrien was in fact the winner. Accidentally true lie does not save the liar from being revealed.
7. Recap.Kamen Rider Drive Ep 33 Who Claimed Shinnosuke Tomaris Life: Chase previously falsely assured Kiriko that Gou wasn't brainwashed by Freeze. It's shown in this episode that Gou was immune to his effects all along. No mention of an accidentally true lie saving the liar from being revealed.
8. Recap.Central Park S 2 E 07 A Decent Proposal: Before going to Bitsy's birthday party, Owen tells Molly to be careful around Bitsy because she probably has a secret rich person dungeon for the children of Central Park managers, but admits he doesn't know. When Molly does meet Bitsy and she begs Bitsy not to put her in her dungeon, Bitsy tells her that's ridiculous... because her dungeon is full of shoes she doesn't wear anymore and her old LaserDiscs. No mention of the accidentally true lie saving the liar from being revealed.
9. MyGodWhatHaveIDone.Literature: In the Presence of Mine Enemies: A woman who accuses Heinrich of being a Jew (not realizing he is one) after he spurns her advances is horrified upon realizing that this has gotten his children arrested for being part-Jewish and could get them executed. Pothole does not mention the liar being saved by the lie being true.
10. Characters.Game Of Thrones Jon Snow: Jon wasn't far off the mark in the first episode when he denied he was a bastard, because he certainly wasn't. Liar isn't saved by the lie being true.
11. Fanfic.One For All And Eight For The Ninth: The video published by the Meta Liberation Army to slander All Might and Izuku contains one tidbit of truth - All Might and Izuku's Quirk did come from All for One. Liar(s) aren't saved by the lie being true.
12. Literature.The Combat Baker And Automaton Waitress:
    • "The Wolf Man" was a notorious Wiltian assassin, spy and saboteur responsible for over 100,000 Filbarnian (French) deaths. He was also a complete fabrication used by Filbarneu to blame their own screw-ups on the enemy. However, when Filbarneu presented a random Wiltian POW and claimed to have captured the Wolf Man, Wiltia frantically bartered for his release, then locked him away in a private cell. This is because, by sheer coincidence, the fake Wolf Man was a dropout from an actual Wiltian black ops division known as the Werewolves.
    • In book 7, the hit piece against Lud is mostly Blatant Lies, but while describing his past as a soldier it manages to correctly pin him to the site of the Lapchuricka massacre. Neither entry describes a liar being saved by their lie being true.
13. Recap.Mad Men S 2 E 1 For Those Who Think Young: Dale jokes that Peggy was knocked up by Don and was away giving birth to his child. The viewer knows that this is correct except for one detail — the baby was actually Pete's. Liar isn't saved by their lie being true.
14. TearJerker.Dragon Ball Z Abridged: If you aren't completely turned off by Satan's It's All About Me attitude, you may feel a little sympathy for him in a Jerkass Woobie kind of way. If Cell really was accidentally telling the truth during his verbal Curb-Stomp Battle, Mark "Hercule" Satan used to be a homeless man who started his career in Bum Fights. He still managed to become a famous star nonetheless. Now, he may be an Attention Whore, but he's also Lonely at the Top and the only person who may genuinely still love him is his daughter, Videl. Then comes the Foregone Conclusion of his "fight" with Cell, and the outcome is way more graphic than in canon. Pothole doesn't describe a liar being saved by their lie.
15. Recap.The Boondocks S 1 E 5 A Date With The Health Inspector: Ed and Rummy lie to the cop that the convenience store manager they're robbing is a terrorist and is holding a gun on them. Then it turns out the manager does have a gun and, if the two other men who come to back him up packing heavier artillery is any indication, actually a terrorist.
    Rummy: I didn't think they'd actually shoot back at us! Liars aren't saved by their lie being true.
16. Recap.One Piece Straw Hats Reunion Arc: Thanks to Demaro Black and his gang making broad claims to be the returning Straw Hats, the Marines discovered that the real Straw Hats were back, which unfortunately made the crew's reunion and departure to Fishman Island trickier. Liars aren't saved by their lie being true.
17. Recap.Danny Phantom S 1 E 7 Bitter Reunions: Chekhov's Gunman: The Wisconsin Dairy King, though it's implied at first that Vlad made him up so Jack would stay at his castle long enough for Vlad to kill him. Liar doesn't seem to be saved by their lie being true.
18. Literature.Tenderness: Eric pulls a Wounded Gazelle Gambit by claiming his father was physically abusive, which is why he killed him and his mother. However, it's revealed that Eric was sexually abused by his mother when he was growing up. Liar isn't saved by their lie being true.
19. Series.How To Sell Drugs Online Fast: Since Moritz doesn't want to stop selling drugs, he tells Lenny and Dan that the Dutch people that supply them have threatened to kill them if they stop. He says that as a lie, but at the end of Season 2, he discovers that the Dutch actually do kill off people who leave them. Liar doesn't seem to be saved by their lie being true.
20. Characters.Dragon Ball Supporting Cast: After dealing with Goku's Oozaru form, Oolong quips, "So what is he? Some kind of space alien?" Yup. Does not save the liar from being revealed.
21. ComicBook.The Sandman Universe: One of the many ways Rose describes Dream when she sees him is by comparing him to "a kid [she] babysat." The first time she had met him was when he was a normal human child that she babysat in her youth. He even jokes that "it's every child's fantasy to romance the babysitter" when she asked why he went to her in his quest to find love. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
22. Film.Night Of The Living Dead 1968: Johnny, teasing Barbra in the cemetery, keeps telling her "They're coming for you!" and then points at the shambling man and says "There's one of them now!" Sure enough, the man turns out to be a ghoul and attacks Barbra. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
23. Recap.The A Team S 3 E 19 Moving Targets: B.A. is allowed to take revenge on the team for forcing him to fly, as mentioned under Cool and Unusual Punishment. As part of his revenge, he calls Murdock out on his eccentricities and specifically mentions his invisible dog, Billy, who Murdock actually hadn't mentioned in the episode. Murdock's response is to ask how B.A. knew Billy was there when Billy is invisible. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
24. Recap.The Office USS 6 E 1 Gossip: Out of all the lies Michael made up in this episode, it was the one with Pam being pregnant that ended up being real. No mention of liar being saved by reveal.
25. Recap.Andor S 1 E 8 Narkina 5: Foreshadowing: Melshi tells Cassian not to look at his shift count, believing the Empire will just keep arbitrarily raising it and will never actually release them. He's more correct than he realises. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
26. Literature.Dracula: When Mina Harker asks Dr. Seward to let her listen to his phonograph diary, he's worried that she won't be able to stand hearing what happened to her best friend Lucy and tries to deter her by saying he doesn't know how to go to any specific part of the recordings. No sooner are the words out of his mouth than he realizes he really doesn't have any idea how to find any specific part of the diary, and they therefore can't use it to find clues about Dracula. He now has no choice but to grant Mina's request to listen to the whole thing and transcribe it on her typewriter. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
27. Fanfic.Switchblade: During the Battle of U.A, Izuku tells Nagant that he's seen War Dog on the battlefield in an attempt to distract her from sniping the heroes. Nagant dismisses him because he couldn't give her any relevant details... only for War Dog to actually arrive, tearing her way through PLF soldiers to get to Shigaraki, then going after Nagant herself when the major tries to shoot her. Liar doesn't seem to have been saved by the reveal.
28. Characters.Zombie Land Saga The Living And Others: He makes an offhand joke to Okoba about Franchouchou being zombies, explaining their resemblance to deceased people. This helps Okoba clue in to their true nature. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
29. Garfield.Tropes A To C: In one comic strip, Garfield tells Odie there's been a dog food recall as an excuse to steal his food. Then Jon reads in the newspaper that it really was a dog food recall. Liar not saved by reveal.
30. Pantheon.Motivations For Heroism: Sophie: The Lancer and The Heart, Team Mom, The Grifter, Ambiguously Brown which she plays to her advantage, distracts with her sexy wiles and neuro-linguistic programming, The Social Expert, terrible acting outside grifting, Femme Fatale, lies while grifting sometimes turning out to be right, Mysterious Past, Official Couple with Nathan, and amicable with his ex-wife Maggie Liar doesn't seem to be saved by reveal.
31. VideoGame.Dead Island: Possible. Charon gets the survivors to side with him over Col. Ryder White when he claims that White was going to nuke Banoi to contain the outbreak. While White was never planning such an action, his superiors reportedly decided to in the sequel when it was clear Banoi was lost. Reports of Banoi being nuked were used by a character trying to back up his claim that the next island (Palanai) was also going to be nuked, a claim he later confirmed to be a lie. It is never established if he was also lying about Banoi's fate, though the survival of John Sinamoi (as seen in Dead Island: Epidemic) would indicate he was. It seems not once is a liar saved by their reveal.
32. Webcomic.The Fancy Adventures Of Jack Cannon: Angel telling Craig that Jack is "the most badass fighter ever" in hopes it will save his skin. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
33. WebVideo.Counter Monkey: Tandem the Spoony would boast of being 'the Greatest Swordsman in the World' just as part of his Awesome Ego character and it wasn't intended to be serious. When a sword specialist got offended by this and repeatedly got him into duels in an attempt to disprove it, though, Tandem managed to always beat his opponents by sheer luck, effectively becoming the Greatest Swordsman in the World. In the live session where he brings back the character the streak continues, all of his rolls are insanely good.invoked Liar isn't really saved by reveal.
34. WesternAnimation.Shrek: See Altar Diplomacy below. When Shrek has to come up with a reason as to why Fiona can't marry Farquaad when Fiona asks him during the ceremony, Shrek blurts out that Farquaad is only marrying her so he can be king. As it turns out, he's right^note A deleted scene had Farquaad explaining his plans to Shrek, most likely including his reasons to marry Fiona. Whether it is canon or not is unknown.. Liar isn't saved by reveal.
35. Recap.Inside Job S 2 E 5 Brettwork: One of Brett's Backhanders correctly guess that the person who "killed" Brett was also behind the deaths of Jeff Bezos and the Head of the Flat-Earthers from "My Big Flat Earth Wedding". Liar isn't saved by reveal.
36. ScarletLady.Tropes A To B: When Kagami asks Adrien why he hasn't asked Marinette out yet, he describes a person that Kagami immediately identifies as Gabriel, but Adrien was talking about Hawkmoth. Given who the villain actually is... Liar isn't saved by reveal.
37. WMG.Steven Universe Gemkind Her name is Diamond, since diamonds are the most famous and unbreakable of all gemstones. Plus, it would complete the Accidental Truth Ronaldo shouted out at the end of “Keep Beach City Weird.” (Preemptive apology for everyone that named their gemsona “Diamond".) Liar doesn't seem to have been saved by reveal.
38. SpongeBobSquarePants.Tropes A To C:
    • In the first episode "Help Wanted", Mr. Krabs' test for SpongeBob to find a seemingly nonexistent hydrodynamic spatula to make him a fry cook was all just to shoo him away out of spite. It turns out said spatula is real, and there was only one in stock.
    • In "One Krab's Trash", Mr. Krabs sells a soda drink hat to SpongeBob, and then, after finding out that it's apparently worth a million dollars, attempts to scare it off SpongeBob by telling him the hat is cursed and unless he returns it to the grave of its previous owner, Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen, he himself will be cursed. Imagine his surprise when he finds out that not only is Smitty Werbenjagermanjensen real, but the hat really was his when he was alive.
    • In "Yeti Krabs", Mr. Krabs tries to scare Squidward and SpongeBob into working harder by making up a story about a Yeti Krab who tracks down and eats lazy workers, along with anyone in the vicinity. A real Yeti Krab shows up by coincidence after he leaves (not to eat SpongeBob and Squidward for being lazy, but to buy a Krabby Patty) and Hilarity Ensues. None of these have the liar be saved by the reveal.
39. Recap.Star Trek The Animated Series S 1 E 10 Mudds Passion: Harry was just running one of his scams, and had no idea that the stuff actually worked. When he finds out, he's dismayed that he was offering it so cheaply. Edge case, but as written the entry doesn't mention the liar being saved.
40. Literature.The Year Of The Rat: Two villagers in the first book, and the truth isn't revealed until the second half of the second one. They joke about Tsarevich Shares who's still single at thirty and say that he must be longing for the Savrian Tsarevna. He is. Low context, but it seems the liar wasn't saved by their reveal.
41. Funny.Two Best Friends Play Lets Play 2018 Part 1: Matt is shocked he accidentally prophecized that the opponent Yashiro respects would be his dead father.

    Matt: I was just bullshitting out of my ass! Liar not saved by reveal.

42. Film.Meet The Parents: When the family finds out that Greg got a cat to be a fake Jinx which trashed the family room and lied about it, Pam rhetorically asks him this:
    Pam: Now what are you going to tell me next? That you set Kevin's altar on fire? (chuckles nervously. Greg keeps his silence, causing Pam to stop smiling, and realize that what she just guessed was actually true) Oh my god. Liar not saved by reveal as written.
43. Characters.Goblin Slayer Adventurers Guild Members: Makes a joke about the goblins just blowing in out of nowhere in her party's spotlight chapter in volume 12, due to the sizable horde menacing the village showing little trace of where they came from. The gods literally do conjure monsters from thin air just to give humans something to fight, and her party is even then going through the start of a new "campaign" on their playboard. Liar not saved by reveal.
44. Literature.The Combat Baker And Automaton Waitress:
    • "The Wolf Man" was a notorious Wiltian assassin, spy and saboteur responsible for over 100,000 Filbarnian (French) deaths. He was also a complete fabrication used by Filbarneu to blame their own screw-ups on the enemy. However, when Filbarneu presented a random Wiltian POW and claimed to have captured the Wolf Man, Wiltia frantically bartered for his release, then locked him away in a private cell. This is because, by sheer coincidence, the fake Wolf Man was a dropout from an actual Wiltian black ops division known as the Werewolves.
    • In book 7, the hit piece against Lud is mostly Blatant Lies, but while describing his past as a soldier it manages to correctly pin him to the site of the Lapchuricka massacre. Liar not saved by reveal in either example.

1. Fanfic.Flashback MHA: Ochako wonders if All Might suddenly becoming more active is the result of him changing his diet, noting that most of his branded foods aren't very healthy. He has changed his diet, and there is a correlation between that and his increased heroic activities, but it's not what she thinks: His being healed means that he no longer has to subsist on medicines and nutrient shakes, and so he's back on his old diet of unhealthy American-style fast food. Not even really an accidental truth.
2. Characters.Twitch Plays Pokemon Heart Gold: KingdomXathers, the creator of the sprite shown here (as well as most of the other sprites on this page), stated that when he had decided to add a Darkrai motif to Clair's costume, it was just to make it look cool, despite her not owning a Darkrai in her initial Gym Battle. Fast-forward to the Ao & 4 vs Lance & Clair Tag Fight, and lo-and-behold, Darkrai was, indeed, one of Clair's Pokemon.
   KingdomXathers: "DAMMIT, I SWEAR I AM CLAIRVOYANT!!!" Not even a lie.

1. Fridge.American Dragon Jake Long: The episode "Haley Gone Wild" becomes brilliant when you take two episodes into account: "Bite Father, Bite Son" and "Hero of the Hourglass". In the first episode, Lao Shi explains to Jake that the reason the Dragon council allowed Susan to marry the human Johnathan was because the latter apparently had a good heart. In the second episode, even though he can only go by the Huntsclan's perception on dragons being "monsters", Johnathan refuses to tell anything about dragons, because he loves Susan. Johnathan may not be aware of magic, but he has a strong moral compass considered valuable even amongst the Dragon Council. The brilliance comes in when one sees in the climax how exactly the Pooka's spell over Haley is broken. All it takes is Johnathan's tirade ("That show is a load of brainwashing, young lady!") to bring Haley back to her senses. In a way, that same moral compass saved the day. Pothole is unclear—can't discern context enough to judge.
2. Recap.Miraculous Ladybug S 01 E 07 The Pharaoh: Alya teases Marinette about being Ladybug when she recalls that Marinette "left her book at home." Marinette is unnerved for a bit until Alya laughs it off. I can't tell because there isn't a whole ton of context.
3. Webcomic.Schlock Mercenary Tropes A To F: "Captain" here. And later in a flashback — see the lightning epaulets?
   • Notably though, Kathryn is not being referred to as the same rank in both, as the first implies a navy-esque captaincy (Equivalent to Colonel) whereas the flashback shows Kathryn as an army-esque captain. (equivalent to a naval Lieutenant.)
   • Tagon pulls this off when exploring a new world, when he sees his troops out of their armored uniforms. He warns them that they need their uniforms on, because they don't know what could attack them. He's inadvertently proven right almost immediately. Mix of poorly-indented misuse and zero-context.
4. YMMV.Wow Wow Wubbzy: At the end, Wubbzy tries to lie and point to someone else... but accidentally points at a mirror. Can't tell if the liar was saved as there was not enough context. It seems to be implied, but I can't tell.