History Main / Really17YearsOld

Not to be confused with YoungerThanTheyLook, where a character ''is'' much younger than they appear to be, but they aren't necessarily lying about it, or TotallyEighteen, when the character or story says they're of legal age as a SuspiciouslySpecificDenial.

* Firo lies about his age in ''both'' directions in later volumes of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'' (set in 2002) once he discovers the loophole in the [[CannotTellALie "No false names"]] clause of immortality[[note]]The demon never said anything about a legit ID with an inaccurate birthdate[[/note]]. Physically he's just shy of nineteen (and chronologically ninety), but he claims twenty five to reap the benefits of the legal drinking and gambling age. Most people find it a bit hard to swallow, [[OlderThanTheyLook given that he has trouble passing for eighteen as it is]].

* In ''LightNovel/TheDevilIsAPartTimer'' the hero Emilia is seventeen, but the ID papers she obtains after arriving on Earth claim she's over twenty. She did this so that she could get a better job and not have to deal with school. This is in contrast with the titular demon lord, who is really about 300 years old but claimed to be a teenager, and is currently stuck working at a fast food restaurant.

* Nobody believes Ren in ''LightNovel/AnotherWorldReincarnation'' is actually 11 years old when they meet her because she 1) is exceptionally tall for her age, 2) is exceptionally busty, 3) has two Fenrir as pets, 4) has the maturity of a 30-year-old man, and 5) routinely takes down monsters that C-ranks and above have a hard time with, even though it's illegal for her to hunt them down (though not to defend herself from them if they attack her).
* ''Literature/ReincarnatedAsASword'': People who see Fran's strength simply assume she must be from a long-lived race like elves and is actually a seasoned veteran. But no, she's really just a talented 12-year-old girl who stumbled upon the [[SentientPhlebotinum titular magic sword]] that massively boosts her stats and growth.

* ''Literature/IWasASwordWhenIReincarnated'': People who see Fran's strength simply assume she must be from a long-lived race like elves and is actually a seasoned veteran. But no, she's really just a talented 12-year-old girl who stumbled upon the [[SentientPhlebotinum titular magic sword]] that massively boosts her stats and growth.

* ''Lightnovel/IWasASwordWhenIReincarnated'': People who see Fran's strength simply assume she must be from a long-lived race like elves and is actually a seasoned veteran. But no, she's really just a talented 12-year-old girl who stumbled upon the [[SentientPhlebotinum titular magic sword]] that massively boosts her stats and growth.

** The [[ScandalGate Rubygate scandal]] has this ''in spades''. Browse Wiki/TheOtherWiki for details.

* Creator/EdgarAllanPoe married his 13-year-old [[KissingCousins cousin]], [[IllGirl Virginia Clemm]]. To get around the age issue to get the marriage license, they had some papers forged that gave her age as 21.

* Subverted twice with Yang in ''WebAnimation/{{RWBY}}''. The drinking age in Remnant is presumably at least eighteen. In both the ''Yellow'' trailer and the first episode of Volume 5 (set after she's eighteen), she goes to a bar and is asked if she's too old enough to be there. Both times it turns out Yang's not interested in alcohol.

* In William Saroyan's ''The Human Comedy'' Homer Macauley, who's fourteen, claims to be sixteen to get a job as a messenger for the local telegraph office. The boss isn't fooled, but keeps him anyway.

* Wrestling/{{ECW}}'s infamous "Wrestling/MassTransitIncident". In 1996, Erich Kulas, a 17-year-old, 350-pound kid from New England with no in-ring ability, lied about his age, his wrestling experience and his schooling background (claiming to have been trained by Killer Kowalski) in order to get into the ring. He was given the gimmick "Mass Transit", a [[Series/TheHoneymooners Ralph Kramden]]-like [[WrestlingDoesntPay wrestling bus driver]], and thrown into a tag-team [[GarbageWrestler hardcore match]] (filling in for Axl Rotten) alongside [[Wrestling/TheDudleyBoys D-Von Dudley]] against Wrestling/NewJack and Mustapha Seed. It ended about as well as you would expect -- Kulas left the match lying in a pool of his own blood after a botched bladejob, New Jack was arrested and later sued (he was let off after it was revealed how Kulas had lied to the bookers), and ECW's first pay-per-view, ''Barely Legal'', was almost canceled, and wound up getting pushed back by four months.

* ''Film/OnceUponATimeInHollywood'': After Pussycat proposes to give him head, Cliff asks if she has some kind of ID to confirm her age. She refuses and claims that she's eighteen, which Cliff isn't convinced by in the slightest. Pussycat's age is never specified, but it's heavily implied that she is not underage.

* In ''Anime/WeatheringWithYou'' Hina tells 16-year-old Hodaka that she's 18 so he should act more respectful towards her. [[spoiler: Near the end of the movie, Hodaka finds out from the police that she is actually only 15, having lied about her age on her resume so she could work to support herself and her kid brother.]]

** Twelve-year-old [[AdorablyPrecociousChild Dipper]] claims that he and his twin sister [[CloudCuckooLander Mabel]] are thirteen ("and thus technically teenagers!") so they can hang out with his PrecociousCrush, Wendy, and her friends.

[[folder:Video Games]]
* [[InvertedTrope Inverted]] with Nana Abe from ''VideoGame/TheIdolmasterCinderellaGirls''; she claims to be "eternally seventeen", but it's heavily implied that she's actually much older than that.
[[/folder]]

Not to be confused with YoungerThanTheyLook, where a character ''is'' much younger than they appear to be, but they aren't necessarily lying about it.

* ''Lightnovel/IWasASwordWhenIReincarnated'': People who see Fran's strength simply assume she must be from a long lived race like elves and actually a seasoned veteran. But no, she's really just twelve and happens to have very good equipment and a lot of talent.