History Main / IAmOneOfThoseToo

* The second ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' book references this to build up Artemis's boy-genius cred. He and his bodyguard Butler use fake identities while traveling abroad, one of their favorites being a chess prodigy and his chaperone. A checkpoint official who happened to be a chess grandmaster himself doubted the story...until Artemis beat him in six moves.

* In ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', because Lt. Aldo and his men don't know enough German to replace the spies originally chosen to attend a Nazi movie premiere, they confidently decide they can pass for an Italian film crew accompanying the German actress turned [[TheMole Allied mole]] instead. The actress admits that this ''might'' work, since most Germans don’t have a good ear for Italian and thus may not recognize that it’s being spoken incorrectly. Naturally the first Nazi they're introduced to is the CunningLinguist Colonel Hans Landa, who greets them in perfect Italian. Of course, their accents are so comically, ridiculously bad, it's debatable how much actual knowledge of Italian would be needed.

* Physicist Richard Feynman, according to Ralph Leighton's ''"Surely You're Joking, Mr. Feynman!"'', liked listening to Italian radio programs so much as a boy, despite not understanding a word of the language, that he came up with his own form of "mock Italian," which he used successfully on numerous occasions. ("...maybe it's Milano instead of Romano, what the hell. But he's an iTALian! So it's just great. But you have to have absolute confidence. Keep right on going, and nothing will happen.")

* ''VideoGame/BaldursGate3'': When you first meet Karlach, she is being pursued by a group of servants of [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Zariel]] masquerading as paladins of Tyr. If you're a cleric of Tyr, you can expose them pretty much instantly:

* '''VideoGame/Baldur'sGate3''': When you first meet Karlach, she is being pursued by a group of servants of [[DemonLordsAndArchdevils Zariel]] masquerading as paladins of Tyr. If you're a cleric of Tyr, you can expose them pretty much instantly:

** In the first chapter, Natsu hears of a mage called "Salamander" and goes to investigate him, thinking that he could be a dragon he's looking for. He isn't, and he turns out to use illegal magic to charm women, but Natsu pretty much ignores him after meeting him in person. Then he learns that he's been passing himself off as a member of the titular wizard guild. It turns out, not only is Natsu [[ConfrontingYourImposter the actual "Salamander"]], but he really is a member of Fairy Tail, and he takes [[BerserkButton major offense]] to the insult to his guild.

* In the fourth ''WesternAnimation/BibiUndTina'' movie, an Albanian girl who ran away from home pretends to be a Syrian refugee. It falls apart when she runs into a family of ''actual'' Syrian refugees.

* In ''[[Film/{{ID}} I.D.]]'', two British police officers are trying to go undercover as football supporters to infiltrate a known hooligan club. They start frequenting the club's pub and eventually strike up a conversation to get chummy with the Shadwell supporters. Naturally the fans are wary and ask lots of questions about their team, which one copper, who did his homework, answers with ease and puts on a convincing performance. He keeps having to jump in and bail out his colleague, who did not do the research, until the club notice and tell him to shut up and let the clueless one answer. John has no choice but to watch helplessly as a guy puts his arm around his partner in a friendly manner...
-->'''Shadwell supporter:''' Still, Wilkinson's not a bad striker, is he, for a black guy?
-->'''Trevor:''' ''[looking relieved]'' Yeah! ... for a black guy.
-->'''John:''' You prat.
-->''[A good hiding ensues]''

* ''Film/InTheLineOfFire''. The would-be presidential assassin is opening a bank account as part of his false identity when he casually mentions he's from Minneapolis. The teller replies, "Oh I'm from Minneapolis!" His OhCrap reaction causes him to fluster his response -- worried that she's realised he's a phony, the assassin [[HeKnowsTooMuch tracks her home and kills her]]. The murder later helps Creator/ClintEastwood's character isolate the false identify in time to stop the assassination.

-->'''Maverick:''' I can't quite place your accent. Where in the South are you from?
-->'''Mrs. Bransford:''' Ever been to Mobile?
-->'''Maverick:''' No.
-->'''Mrs. Bransford:''' Well, that's where I'm from.
-->'''Maverick:''' Mobile, Alabama? Hell, I've been there. I'll bet we know the same people. You start.
-->'''Mrs. Bransford:''' ''[{{beat}}; in tears]'' I've tried so hard to forget that place.

* A scene in ''Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins'' involves Velma sneaking around an office in the school's library while she's looking for evidence. When the librarian walks in and demands to know what she was doing, she pretends to be a lost exchange student from Russia. Guess who once went to Moscow and learned Russian.

* Parodied in ''Film/{{Zathura}}'', where Walter tries to use the [[AuthorityInNameOnly Fleet Admiral card]] (which allowed his piece to move forward some extra spaces) to make the stranded astronaut obey his demand to leave their house:

* Creator/LinneaSinclair uses this in ''An Accidental Goddess''. The time traveling protagonist claims to be visiting from another spaceport, which in her day didn't have a lot of traffic. Unfortunately, the woman sitting next to her at the bar is from there, and is suspicious when the protagonist doesn't recognize the name of a local bigshot. Fortunately, the protagonist is also telepathic, and can pull the relevant details out of the woman's mind.

* In ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', con artist Frank Abagnale pretends to be a lawyer who studied at Harvard, which works fine until he meets someone else who actually ''did'' study there. The guy asks him a load of awkward questions, gets suspicious, and Frank soon has to cut his losses and disappear. Which makes this TruthInTelevision.

* In the ''Literature/{{Earthsea}}'' book ''The Farthest Shore'', Ged tells Arren they are going to pose as merchants from Arren's island, and has the foresight to ask him to give some large town as a fake birthplace -- just in case they run into a townsman.
* ''A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat'' has tips for avoiding this when pretending to be an evangelical, including a sample conversation:
-->'''Questioner:''' Tell me about your church. \\
'''You:''' It's a church of two thousand just south of St. Louis. \\
'''Questioner:''' Oh, you mean Christian Life Center? \\
'''You:''' That's the one.
* In one of Robert Fulghum's books he describes a series of these. He wants to be left alone on a flight, so he claims he's a neurosurgeon. Too bad the person next to him really is a neurosurgeon.
* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', when Frodo leaves the Shire, he travels under the assumed name of Underhill. This gets awkward when he passes through Bree -- several local Underhills are at the inn that same night and start quizzing him on family history, certain that they must be related somewhere along the line.

* In ''Film/{{Splash}}'' the main character and his brother are pretending to be Swedish scientists who have been sent to examine the mermaid. Unfortunately they run into an actual Swede who proceeds to query them in his native tongue. For his first question they basically respond just by saying "yes" a great number of times. His second question, translated for the viewers, is along the lines of "what are a pair of Swedish scientists doing in the USA". John Candy's character, being an aficionado of pornography, responds by saying "Hey baby, I've got a 12 inch penis," which he only pulls off due to having watched a decent amount of Swedish porn. This convinces the guard who just laughs knowingly.

->'''Homer:''' Uh, buh, buh, we're new foreign exchange students from ... uh, um ... Scotland!\\

'''Homer:''' Uh ... North ... Kilttown.\\

-->-- ''WesternAnimation/TheSimpsons'', "Lard of the Dance"

* Literature/{{Discworld}}:

* In ''Literature/TheFarthestShore'', Ged tells Arren they are going to pose as merchants from Arren's island, and has the foresight to ask him to give some large town as a fake birthplace -- just in case they run into a townsman.

** Parodied in "Lard of the Dance": Homer is breaking into Springfield Elementary, and is caught by Groundskeeper Willie.
--->'''Homer:''' Uh, buh, buh, we're new foreign exchange students from ... uh, um ... Scotland!\\

'''Homer:''' Uh ... North ... Kilttown.\\

'''[[TheDitz Homer:]]''' Wait a minute! [[BelievingTheirOwnLies There's no Angus McLeod in North Kilttown!]] [[RefugeInAudacity Why, you're not from Scotland at all!]]
** In "22 Short Films About Springfield", Skinner ruins the food he's been cooking. When Chalmers asks about it, Skinner covers by claiming he's making some steamed clams, and then tries to replace them with hamburgers:

* Captain Jack of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' took his identity from a deceased fighter pilot from WWII. When he finds himself in that time period, he starts to introduce himself according to his fictional backstory. This trope's subverted when he doesn't go into any more details, as he finds himself introducing himself to the real Captain Jack Harkness. Interestingly enough, the real Jack Harkness turns out to be gay, while the immortal one is of the AnythingThatMoves variety. The Jacks end up being attracted to each other, which "our" Jack finds painful, as he knows the real Jack is destined to heroically die the next day.

* Numerous stories on ''Website/NotAlwaysRight'' have a scammer or angry customer impersonate a lawyer or someone with knowledge of law, only to have a customer behind them step forward and reveal they are a lawyer as well, then disprove the customer. This usually leads to the customer fleeing the store in shame. Another common variant is for the customer to angrily claim to be a friend of the owner, only for it to be revealed that they are actually ''speaking'' to the owner or a relative of the owner -- who has, of course, never seen them before. Several examples have had the employee/sane customer ''also'' lying about being the owner/lawyer, but successfully scaring away the troublemaker.
* Stanley Johnson, [[LikeFatherLikeSon father]] of British politician Boris Johnson, used to be a spy. Supposedly, the first time he tried out his cover story -- that he was working in the Foreign Office as the desk officer for the Sudan -- it was at the Foreign Office, to the actual desk officer for the Sudan.

* In ''Literature/TimeMachineSeries'' [[{{Gamebooks}} gamebook]] "The Secret of the Knights", early in the story your time traveling character will defeat a {{jerkass}} squire in a bout with a [[MartialArtsStaff quarterstaff]]. Impressed by the skill shown, several onlookers surmise that you're a foreign squire from the kingdom of Navarre who was supposed to arrive around that time and start serving [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward the "Black Prince"]]. Your character [[SureLetsGoWithThat decides to agree as it makes for a good excuse]] for some of the gaps in your knowledge. The only problem with this is that much later in the story you'll wind up at [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar the Battle of Crécy]] and a wrong choice or two will have you run into that same antagonistic squire ([[TheResenter who is still nursing a grudge]] and believes your story was fake), who will insist on introducing you to his friend who actually ''is'' from Navarre. Long story short, it won't take long before they confirm that you're an impostor.

* In ''Literature/TimeMachineSeries'' [[{{Gamebooks}} gamebook]] "The Secret of the Knights", early in the story your time traveling character will defeat a {{jerkass}} squire in a bout with a [[MartialArtsStaff quarterstaff]]. Impressed by the skill shown, several onlookers surmise that you're a foreign squire from the kingdom of Navarre who was supposed to arrive around that time and start serving [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward the "Black Prince"]]. Your character [[SureLetsGoWithThat decides to agree as it makes for a good excuse]] for some of the gaps in your knowledge. The only problem with this is that much later in the story you'll wind up at [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar the Battle of Crécy]] and a wrong choice or two will have you run into that same antagonistic squire, who will insist on introducing you to his friend who actually is from Navarre. Long story short, it won't take long before they confirm that you're an impostor.

* In a {{Gamebook|s}} where you time travel back to medieval times to figure out the meaning of the Order of Garter's motto, "Evil to those who think evil of it" (naturally ignoring questions of hygiene, health, height, and ... hlanguage), one of your excuses for your oddness is that you come from Navarre. However, one of your rivals has a friend, actually from Navarre, who asks you how the king is doing...

* In ''Literature/TimeMachineSeries'' [[{{Gamebooks}} gamebook]] "The Secret of the Knights", early in the story your time traveling character will defeat a {{jerkass}} squire in a bout with a [[MartialArtsStaff quarterstaff]]. Impressed by the skill shown, several onlookers surmise that you're a foreign squire who was supposed to arrive and start serving [[UsefulNotes/TheHouseOfPlantagenet Edward the "Black Prince"]], and your character [[SureLetsGoWithThat decides to agree as it makes for a good excuse]] for some of the gaps in your knowledge. The only problem with this is that much later in the story you'll wind up at [[UsefulNotes/TheHundredYearsWar the Battle of Crécy]] and a wrong choice or two will have you run into that same antagonistic squire, who will insist on introducing you to his friend who actually is from the same kingdom that you were supposed to be from. Long story short, it won't take long before they confirm that you're an impostor.

* ''Series/DharmaAndGreg'':
** One episode has Dharma and her friend pretending to be German tourists, speaking faux-German. When Dharma learns [[spoiler:her niece shoplifted from that store]], she has to return to the store, but can't drop the masquerade. Eventually, the clerk gets tired of not being able to communicate with the "tourists", and asks, "Does anyone here speak German?" Naturally, someone does.
** Dharma makes Greg do this in another episode, pretending to be a southerner in a golf accessory store asking for a "[[FunetikAksent Naan Aaron]]". Unfortunately there is a man FROM Memphis a few feet away from them, who turns out to be the newly appointed local judge. He's quickly shown to have an ''extreme'' dislike for people mocking his accent, forcing Dharma and Greg to participate in a [[SnowballLie increasingly more and more elaborate charade]] leading up to being introduced to Vice-President Al Gore with all of the Finkelsteins and Montgomery-Burns family members dressed up as southern stereotypes.
* In ''Series/{{Bottom}}'', Richie often claims to [[PhonyVeteran have served in the Falklands War]]. In "Parade", he meets someone who actually did serve, and who promptly beats Richie up for lying.
* ''Series/NedsDeclassifiedSchoolSurvivalGuide'': Cookie's attempt to pass himself off as a [[{{Fauxreigner}} British transfer student]] for a new class falls apart when he meets an actual British transfer student in the class, who almost immediately exposes him as a fraud. [[spoiler:He later deduces that the "Brit" was also a fake because [[SeparatedByACommonLanguage he kept using American terms such as 'soccer' and 'fries']]. When Cookie asks him how he saw through his own attempt, the other kid replied that he was just bluffing and Cookie caved.]]
* ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'': In the two-part episode "Time's Arrow", the ''Enterprise'' crew travels to 19th century San Francisco. While there, Riker poses as a policeman. He tries to bluff a real policeman by saying he just transferred from downtown, only to learn that the cop actually works downtown.
* ''Series/DesperateHousewives'': Rex and Bree are going to couples' therapy, and [[StepfordSmiler Bree]] asks Rex to tell everyone that they are going to tennis lessons instead. It turns out that Carlos has been wanting to get back into tennis for a while and he flat-out asks Rex for the number of their trainer, inadvertently putting him in a very tight spot.

* In his stand-up show "The award winning mince pie", Welsh comedian Rhod Gilbert says that he made up a home town called Llanbobl. There follows a five minute rant against people who claim to have been there, including a rugger-bugger type, who said that his team beat Llanbobl 64-17. Rhod is impressed 15 imaginary rugby players scored 17. Gilbert eventually produced a [[Creator/TheBBC BBC]] radio sitcom called ''Rhod Gilbert's Leaving Llanbobl'', set entirely in the fictional town. His production company is Llanbobl Productions.

* In ''Webcomic/GorgeousPrincessCreamyBeamy'' the alien "X" Hoshibana claims to be from USA. He [[http://creamybeamy.comicgenesis.com/d/20071015.html eventually realizes]] he should have picked a more obscure nation as his fake background.

* Stewie on ''WesternAnimation/FamilyGuy'' manages to completely bluff his way through one of these without missing a beat or showing any signs of panic (having stuffed himself into the top of a corpse's suit so as to appear as the head on the body):
-->'''Officer:''' Everything alright here?
-->'''Stewie:''' Oh, fine officer, just enjoying the sunset. No law against that, is there?
-->'''Officer:''' What happened to your shirt?
-->'''Stewie:''' Oh, you know, just a pizza party at the office.
-->'''Officer:''' Oh yeah, where do you work?
-->'''Stewie:''' First Fidelity Insurance over on Weybosset Street.
-->'''Officer:''' Oh, my cousin Arnie works over there.
-->'''Stewie:''' Oh, Arnie's your cousin is he?
-->'''Officer:''' You know him?
-->'''Stewie:''' Oh somewhat, good middle management type. Just sort of blends in with the furniture, though, never really wowed anyone at the office.
-->'''Officer:''' Yeah, that's always been Arnie's problem. Well, take it easy.
-->'''Stewie:''' Yes yes, you too. Oh and if you see Arnie, tell him "boogity boogity boo." He'll know what it means.
* In the ''WesternAnimation/PinkyAndTheBrain'' episode "My Feldmans, My Friends", the Brain attempts to persuade his neighbour that "Mr. The Brain" was his high school nickname by inserting his picture into a high school yearbook. The high school he picks happens to be the one his neighbour attended, so Brain is left trying to convince his neighbour that they were, in fact, classmates.
* ''WesternAnimation/{{Hurricanes}}'': In "Big Sister, Big Trouble", Amanda learns that she has an older half-sister. The sister turns out to be an imposter who's being coerced into spying on Amanda's soccer team by the owner of the OpposingSportsTeam. When she claims to come from a town named Schnitzelheim, the Beethoven twins reveal that they were born there.
* Played with in ''WesternAnimation/{{Ninjago}},'' when the ninja are trapped in the Realm of the Dragons and Oni, Cole disguises himself and [[spoiler: age-shifted Wu]] as Rodney Dangerbuff and Rodney, Jr. A local declares that he's familiar with the Dangerbuff clan and turns away to call one of them over (he's not suspicious, just trying to be friendly). The ninja hightail it out of there while his back's turned, but when he sees them running away, he chuckles and says "Just like a Dangerbuff." They're able to continue using the identities later.

[[folder:Anime and Manga]]

[[folder:Film]]
* Somewhat related is the whole Winchestertonfieldsville scene in ''Film/MrDeeds'', in which every lie Winona Ryder's character makes up about her childhood ends up actually existing.
* The framing device for ''Film/YTuMamaTambien'' is a road trip to the (fictional, as far as the protagonists know) beach of ''Boca de Cielo'' ("Mouth of Heaven"). It's actually just an excuse to try and get the female lead to sleep with one or both of them, but then they actually reach it...
* In ''Film/{{Maverick}}'', Bret Maverick wants to expose/embarrass the con woman "Mrs. Bransford". Well played on Maverick's part because her first response didn't answer the question. Had he said, "Oh, you're from there--" and tried to discredit her, she still could say she was not from there. So Maverick played dumb until she specifically says where she's from.
-->'''Maverick:''' I can't quite place your accent. Where in the South are you from?
-->'''Mrs. Bransford:''' Ever been to Mobile?
-->'''Maverick:''' No.
-->'''Mrs. Bransford:''' Well, that's where I'm from.
-->'''Maverick:''' Mobile, Alabama? Hell, I've been there. I'll bet we know the same people. You start.
-->'''Mrs. Bransford:''' ''[{{beat}}; in tears]'' I've tried so hard to forget that place.

* In ''Film/TheresSomethingAboutMary'', a crude, low-class private detective is trying to impress Mary by pretending to be a suave architect. Cue her architect friend. [[spoiler:Who was also only pretending.]]

* A scene in ''Film/ScoobyDooTheMysteryBegins'' involves Velma sneaking around an office in the school's library while she's looking for evidence. When the librarian walks in and demands to know what she was doing, she pretends to be a lost exchange student from Russia. Guess who once went to Moscow and learned Russian.
* In ''Film/{{Splash}}'' the main character and his brother are pretending to be Swedish scientists who have been sent to examine the mermaid. Unfortunately they run into an actual Swede who proceeds to query them in his native tongue. For his first question they basically respond just by saying "yes" a great number of times. His second question, translated for the viewers, is along the lines of "what are a pair of Swedish scientists doing in the USA". John Candy's character, being an aficionado of pornography, responds by saying "Hey baby, I've got a 12 inch penis," which he only pulls off due to having watched a decent amount of Swedish porn. This convinces the guard who just laughs knowingly.
* In ''Film/TrueLies'' (and the [[ForeignRemake original French film]] ''La Totale!'') the main character believes that his wife is having an affair. Since he is a spy, he uses his skills to track down the other man and while listening in on a meeting between him and his wife, he hears the other man claiming to be a spy himself. He fears he might be an enemy agent trying to seduce his wife to get to him ... until the other man claims to have been responsible for an incident that the main character himself was responsible for and he immediately realizes the guy is only pretending to be a spy to get in his wife's pants.
* In ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', because Lt. Aldo and his men don't know enough German to replace the spies originally chosen to attend a Nazi movie premiere, they confidently decide they can pass for an Italian film crew accompanying the German actress turned [[TheMole Allied mole]] instead. The actress admits that this ''might'' work, since most Germans don’t have a good ear for Italian and thus may not recognize that it’s being spoken incorrectly. Naturally the first Nazi they're introduced to is the CunningLinguist Colonel Hans Landa, who greets them in perfect Italian. Of course, their accents are so comically, ridiculously bad, it's debatable how much actual knowledge of Italian would be needed.
* ''Film/TheATeam'' movie has a scene where Face accidentally switched BA and Murdoch's fake passports. BA manages to bluff his way past his customs official but the one Murdoch went up to is also from Tanzania and asks him a question in Swahili. It ends up working out for the better as Murdoch turns out to know enough Swahili to answer the question, while BA wouldn't have.
* In ''Film/OceansTwelve'', Tess uses her [[ShapedLikeItself uncanny resemblance]] [[CelebrityParadox to Julia Roberts]] to impersonate the famous actress. She finds herself having to bluff her way through a conversation with Bruce Willis.

* ''Film/InTheLineOfFire''. The would-be presidential assassin is opening a bank account as part of his false identity when he casually mentions he's from Minneapolis. The teller replies, "Oh I'm from Minneapolis!" His OhCrap reaction causes him to fluster his response -- worried that she's realised he's a phony, the assassin [[HeKnowsTooMuch tracks her home and kills her]]. The murder later helps Creator/ClintEastwood's character isolate the false identify in time to stop the assassination.
* In ''I.D.'', two British police officers are trying to go undercover as football supporters to infiltrate a known hooligan club. They start frequenting the club's pub and eventually strike up a conversation to get chummy with the Shadwell supporters. Naturally the fans are wary and ask lots of questions about their team, which one copper, who did his homework, answers with ease and puts on a convincing performance. He keeps having to jump in and bail out his colleague, who did not do the research, until the club notice and tell him to shut up and let the clueless one answer. John has no choice but to watch helplessly as a guy puts his arm around his partner in a friendly manner...
-->'''Shadwell supporter:''' Still, Wilkinson's not a bad striker, is he, for a black guy?
-->'''Trevor:''' ''[looking relieved]'' Yeah! ... for a black guy.
-->'''John:''' You prat.
-->''[A good hiding ensues]''
* A RunningGag in ''Film/{{Coneheads}}'' has the titular aliens claiming to be from France as their [[PaperThinDisguise oddly effective cover]]. At one point, they mention it to [[BigBad INS Agent Seedling]] (currently disguised as a Jehovah's Witness), who then starts speaking in French, which causes them to briefly look nervous ... and then they continue the conversation in perfect French.

* In the fourth ''WesternAnimation/BibiUndTina'' movie, an Albanian girl who ran away from home pretends to be a Syrian refugee. It falls apart when she runs into a family of ''actual'' Syrian refugees.
* In ''Film/DickTracyMeetsGruesome'', Gruesome and X-Ray use a military TrojanAmbulance to gain access, claiming to have come from the 291st General. However, on the way out, they run into an ambulance driver who used to serve in the 291st General who spots something something fishy about their ambulance.

* In one of Robert Fulghum's books he describes a series of these. He wants to be left alone on a flight, so he claims he's a neurosurgeon. Too bad the person next to him really is a neurosurgeon.
* In the novel ''Literature/TheProteusOperation'', one of the heroes is taking a train through Nazi occupied territory. Someone else on the train asked him what his profession was and he replied with his cover of an archaeologist. At that point, the other person responded that he, too, was one and what did the hero think about the xxx controversy? At that point the hero [[spoiler:got on his high horse and announced that ''he'' was only interested in the archeology that proves the superiority of the Aryan race and that all other studies of lesser races was not proper National Socialist thinking. The passenger archaeologist immediately decided they really didn't have anything to talk about]].
* In a {{Gamebook|s}} where you time travel back to medieval times to figure out the meaning of the Order of Garter's motto, "Evil to those who think evil of it" (naturally ignoring questions of hygiene, health, height, and ... hlanguage), one of your excuses for your oddness is that you come from Navarre. However, one of your rivals has a friend, actually from Navarre, who asks you how the king is doing...
* ''A Field Guide to Evangelicals and Their Habitat'' has tips for avoiding this when pretending to be an evangelical, including a sample conversation:
-->'''Questioner:''' Tell me about your church. \\
'''You:''' It's a church of two thousand just south of St. Louis. \\
'''Questioner:''' Oh, you mean Christian Life Center? \\
'''You:''' That's the one.

* Used by Franchise/SherlockHolmes in the short story "The Three Garridebs", in which he tests his suspicions of a con man posing as American by casually asking after the nonexistent mayor of the con man's claimed Kansas "hometown".
* A joke found in an issue of ''Readers' Digest'' (and possibly a real incident) referred to a man who liked to pretend he'd had the same operations that other people had been through so that he could share in their complaints. Eventually carelessness resulted in a pair of women asking him, "Really. When did you have your hysterectomy?"
* Creator/LinneaSinclair uses this in ''An Accidental Goddess''. The time traveling protagonist claims to be visiting from another spaceport, which in her day didn't have a lot of traffic. Unfortunately, the woman sitting next to her at the bar is from there, and is suspicious when the protagonist doesn't recognize the name of a local bigshot. Fortunately, the protagonist is also telepathic, and can pull the relevant details out of the woman's mind.
* In ''Film/CatchMeIfYouCan'', con artist Frank Abagnale pretends to be a lawyer who studied at Harvard, which works fine until he meets someone else who actually ''did'' study there. The guy asks him a load of awkward questions, gets suspicious, and Frank soon has to cut his losses and disappear. Which makes this TruthInTelevision.
* Donald Westlake's unlucky criminal [[Literature/{{Dortmunder}} John Dortmunder]] once, under pressure, claimed his name was "John Diddums," and then started to use it as a regular alias. Whenever people asked about the name that sounds like babytalk, he'd tell them, "It's Welsh," and they'd be embarrassed for questioning it. And then he ran into a British gentleman who remarked, "I know a Diddums family near Caernarvon. Might you be a relative?"
* Used and played with in Creator/JosephaSherman's ''The Shattered Oath''. A prince of [[TheFairFolk the Sidhe]] has been exiled into ~9th century AD Ireland, claiming to be an exiled prince from Cathay (China). Naturally a trader who's been in Cathay comes calling. Played with because, even then, China was a huge country. Ardagh, the prince, cannot answer the trader's questions ... but the trader, who does know how big Cathay is (generally at least), also has to admit to not knowing how to answer Ardagh's questions, nor having heard of his family or even dialect (actually the Sidhe tongue).
* In the first [[Literature/ConfessionsOfGeorgiaNicolson Georgia Nicolson book]], Georgia walks up to a cute guy on the street, pretending to have a limp, and starts speaking to him in fake French (ItMakesSenseInContext... or, well, as much sense as [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Georgia]] ever makes). The guy, in an attempt to help her, leads her to a restaurant nearby whose waitresses speak French.

* In ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'', when Frodo leaves the Shire, he travels under the assumed name of Underhill. This gets awkward when he passes through Bree -- several local Underhills are at the inn that same night and start quizzing him on family history, certain that they must be related somewhere along the line.

* The second ''Literature/ArtemisFowl'' book references this to build up Artemis's boy-genius cred. He and his bodyguard Butler use fake identities while traveling abroad, one of their favorites being a chess prodigy and his chaperone. A checkpoint official who happened to be a chess grandmaster himself doubted the story...until Artemis beat him in six moves.

* In Creator/EdmondHamilton's Literature/CaptainFuture novel ''Outlaw World'', Captain Future temporarily ends up with some pirates, and pretends to be a survivor from a recently destroyed band. Then, they visit [[WretchedHive the pirates' main den]], and one person states he served in that band for nine years and had never seen him. The Captain buys a reprieve by claiming he was a freshly recruited technician, and had no opportunity yet to interact with a gunner.

* An episode of ''Series/{{Coupling}}'' ("the man with two legs") has Jeff for various reasons claiming to a woman he fancies that he has only one leg: It's too bad her brother also lost a leg.
* ''Series/{{Seinfeld}}'': Happens to George Costanza all the time; since he's always making up more interesting jobs for himself -- to the point that he has studied up on how to pass himself off as an architect. In one memorable example he tries to pass himself off as a marine biologist, and then he's asked to save a beached whale. [[spoiler:He saves it, but then admits he was lying and is dumped.]]

* Subverted in the ''Series/ThirtyRock'' episode "Reunion." Jack is mistaken for a popular former student at Liz's [[ClassReunion high school reunion]], and after his initial denial is muffled, he plays along. Then he meets what appears to be the man's ex-girlfriend from high school. He manages fine in not giving away any details until the woman asks, "Say to me what you said that night." Jack looks her straight in the eye and says, "No." From her reaction, ''this was exactly what she wanted to hear''. The ruse only falls apart when [[spoiler: the ex-girlfriend decides that it's the opportune time for Jack to meet "his" son.]]
* In an episode of ''Series/WillAndGrace'', Will pretends to be a professional tennis player (because being a lawyer at a party kills conversations), and then panics when he finds out there's an actual professional tennis player at the party. [[spoiler: Who is also a fraud due to his real job being an even worse conversation killer: IRS agent.]]
* In an episode of ''Series/CriminalMinds'', the female FBI agents are out at a bar having a night out drinking. A guy tries to impress one of them by telling them he works for the FBI, but can't talk about his job. They ask him if it's a dangerous job, and generally puff him up with softball questions, before showing him their FBI badges and telling him to buzz off. This scenario also formed the basis of a series of British [[HomeGuard Territorial Army]] recruitment adverts.

* Captain Jack of ''Series/{{Torchwood}}'' took his identity from a deceased fighter pilot from WWII. When he finds himself in that time period, he starts to introduce himself according to his fictional backstory. This trope's subverted when he doesn't go into any more details, as he finds himself introducing himself to the real Captain Jack Harkness. Interestingly enough, the real Jack Harkness turns out to be gay, while the immortal one is of the AnythingThatMoves variety. The Jacks end up being attracted to each other, which "our" Jack finds painful, as he knows the real Jack is destined to heroically die the next day.
* Referenced on a first-season episode of ''Series/{{House}}'', following Cameron's [[spoiler:very brief]] resignation. Interviewing candidates for the empty post, House asks one, "Do you really speak four languages, or are you just betting on never being interviewed by someone who does?"
* The ''Series/VeronicaMars'' episode "The Wrath of Con" sees Veronica and Wallace infiltrating a college party posing as prospective students. Wallace claims to be a math major and finds himself having to come up with plausible-sounding answers to questions like: "The Poincaré conjecture or UsefulNotes/FermatsLastTheorem: which one do you think better defines the geometry of three-dimensional space?"
* In the ''Series/{{Scrubs}}'' episode "My First Kill", J.D., panicking, finds himself claiming that his patient is from Luxembourg -- which is not only untrue, but nothing to do with what he's actually lying about! Dr Cox spent two weeks in Luxembourg. Subverted in that J.D. does answer Dr Cox's questions accurately ("Thank you, third grade book report!"), but Dr Cox still realizes he's lying because, well, [[BadLiar it's really obvious]].
* On ''Series/HomeAndAway'', Xavier poses as a university student in a philosophy course while trying to get with Miranda. When she introduces him to her friend, an actual philosophy student, it takes him all of a few minutes to [[BluffTheImposter trick him]] by claiming that JeromeKern is a philosopher who'd interest him. However, the friend does nothing with this information, as Xavier is quickly exposed when Miranda comes to his high school to give a talk about Uni life.

* On an episode of ''Series/TheDrewCareyShow'', Oswald is pretending to be German while talking to a bartender to see if she cheats him. She immediately says she was born in Germany and starts talking to him in German. He then says he is actually from a small town in France called Germany. She then says she went to school in France for several years and starts speaking French.
* A double example in ''Series/TwentyFour''. At the start of Day 5, Jack is working at an oil refinery under the alias "Frank Flynn" after having faked his death at the end of Day 4. He starts a relationship with his landlady, but her son Derek doesn't trust Jack. At one point, Derek asks "Flynn" about his past and Jack claims he used to work in an oil rig in Alaska called "the Albatross". Derek replies that the brother of a friend of his worked there but he had never heard of "Flynn". Jack maintains calm and claims they were mostly known by nicknames and asks the one of his friend's brother ... which prompts Derek to leave.

* In ''Film/TrueLies'' the main character believes that his wife is having an affair. Since he is a a spy, he uses his skills to track down the other man and while listening in on a meeting between him and his wife, he hears the other man claiming to be a spy himself. He fears he might be an enemy agent trying to seduce his wife to get to him ... until the other man claims to have been responsible for an incident that the main character himself was responsible for and he immediately realizes the guy is only pretending to be a spy to get in his wife's pants.

* In ''Film/KateAndLeopold'', Kate's boss is trying to impress her by claiming to either have an impressive manor in England or know someone who does (we don't hear this claim, only the reaction). Leopold immediately points out that such a manor doesn't exist. Kate tries to say that Leopold could be wrong, but Leopold is adamant. He grew up there, and he'd know. JJ also pretentiously tries to fake familiarity with 'Theater/LaBoheme'', including claiming that it taught him to speak French; Leopold humiliates him again by speaking French at him and smirking when JJ can't respond, and finally twists the knife by pointing out that ''La Boheme'' isn't in French.

* In ''Film/KateAndLeopold'', Kate's boss is trying to impress her by claiming to either have an impressive manor in England or know someone who does (we don't hear this claim, only the reaction). Leopold immediately points out that such a manor doesn't exist. Kate tries to say that Leopold could be wrong, but Leopold is adamant. He grew up there, and he'd know. Leopold further shatters JJ's pretensions by pointing out the errors he made in trying to fake familiarity with ''Film/LaBoheme''. It's even more ironic when you realize that the filmmakers themselves don't know the opera very well: it premiered in 1896, and Leo is from 1876.

* Parodied in ''Film/{{Zathura}}'', where Walter tries to use the [[AuthorityInNameOnly Fleet Admiral card]] (which allowed his piece to move forward some extra spaces) to make him obey his demand to leave their house:

'''Willie:''' Saints be praised, I'm from Scotland! Where do ya hail from?\\

'''Willie:''' No foolin'! I'm from North Kilttown! Do you know Angus [=McLeod=]?\\

* In [[http://www.cracked.com/blog/5-signs-that-someone-isnt-actually-badass/ this]] Cracked article, Creator/{{Seanbaby}} details an encounter with a bouncer who regaled him with obviously fake fight stories. In this case, the bouncer knew Seanbaby was into fighting because it was all over his shirt, but clearly mistook him for a hobbyist or even a wannabe like him. "The story made me sad. [...] because this idiot managed to tell the story to maybe the one person in the bar with academic certainty that he made it up. "

This situation can be part of a {{Spot|TheImposter}} or BluffTheImpostor scene. See also ConfrontingYourImposter, which is going one step further: an impostor meets the very person he's masquerading as or the MirrorRoutine where they're (or you) are pretending to be the other as if in a mirror. If it actually works, consider SeamlessSpontaneousLie.

* In ''Film/InglouriousBasterds'', because Lt. Aldo and his men don't know enough German to replace the spies originally chosen to attend a Nazi movie premiere, they confidently decide they can pass for Italian instead. The first Nazi they're introduced to is the CunningLinguist Colonel Hans Landa, who greets them in perfect Italian. Of course, their accent are so comically, ridiculously bad, it's debatable how much actual knowledge of Italians would be needed.