Sherlock Can Read

Balthazar: I have something I'd like to show you, Dave.
Dave: How'd you know my name was Dave?
Balthazar: 'Cause I can read minds! [beat] It's on your backpack.

— The Sorcerer's Apprentice

Sometimes, Watson gasps in shock that Holmes has instantly deduced a secret. But this time, Holmes didn't correlate a thousand minutiae to get his answer — he just read it on something.

One particularly common variant is having one character call another they don't know by name, then point out it was written on their person.

Phony Psychics often make use of this, though they usually don't reveal the real reason for their seemingly-mystical intuition.

A subversion of the Sherlock Scan trope. Compare to How Did You Know? I Didn't and You Just Told Me, but in both cases, Holmes is guessing; here, he knows for a fact. Not to be confused with Clue, Evidence, and a Smoking Gun.

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Examples:

Anime & Manga

• Inverted, then played straight in Ranma ½, after Ranma pulls an Accidental Proposal on Shampoo (in accordance with the laws of her village), and she pulls out an old book to confirm the rules of engagement. Soun reads the text and becomes shocked at what he sees, only to reveal a moment later that he can't read any of it because it's written in Chinese. Nabiki then gives it a once-over and confirms what Shampoo is saying is true. Ranma accuses her of not knowing Chinese either, to which Nabiki responds she doesn't have to know the language: there was a Japanese translation right next to the Chinese.
  Soun: And I missed that entirely!
• Steins;Gate: when Kurisu tracks down "Future Gadgets Tech Labs", Okabe demands to know how she possibly did that, immediately assuming she's a spy from "The Organization". Kurisu points out the name is written on their mailbox just outside the door.

Comic Books

• In Baker Street #1, Susan arrives at Baker Street to apply for the flatmate position. Sharon Ford (the settings' equivalent of Sherlock Holmes) does a Sherlock Scan on her and deduces a number of things about her (she is a medical student, the university she is attending, etc.), including that she is American. Susan is astounded and asks Sharon if she deduced she was American from the clues she just listed. Sharon replies "yes", but adds that the accent was something of a giveaway as well.
• From the pages of Doctor Strange: During the Loki: Sorcerer Supreme arc, Stephen recruits The Sentry to help stop whatever evil Stephen just knows Loki is plotting. They go to Wong's house, and he berates Strange for his dumb plan the moment he opens the door. Sentry is in awe at how in tune the two are that Wong was able to know about what Stephen was planning without him telling him, assuming there's some kind of Psychic Link at work. Stephen cuts him off with "I texted him".
• Robin Annual #6 is a New Old West story guest-starring modern versions of DC western heroes Nighthawk and Pow-Wow Smith as they track the fugitive Trigger Twins. Smith, in the middle of looking at their trail in the desert when Nighthawk walked up, says the Triggers first went offroad a few miles north, in a '78 Cadillac Eldorado with OK plates, stolen in Tulsa three days before. Nighthawk is astonished that Smith can tell all that from looking at some tire tracks, but Smith clarifies that was all from the Texas Rangers' report on their escape.
• Spider-Man: One issue had a reporter talking to Spider-Man, trying to guess his identity and making a comment about how he was a native New Yorker. Spider-Man asked how he could possibly know a thing like that, at which point the reporter said "Ask me again in that Queens accent how I know you're from New York."
• The Wicked + The Divine: After passing out at a concert, Laura meets god Luci backstage. After seeing her do a Finger-Snap Lighter trick and address her by name, Laura asks if Luci used powers to guess her name.
  Luci: Yes, with mystical going-through-your-wallet powers.

Fanfic

• RainbowDoubleDash's Lunaverse: In "Dinky and the Blanks", the villain tries a Hannibal Lecture at the climax, only for Trixie to shut him up by pointing out his observation about Carrot Top and Ditzy are pretty weak, since anyone can tell at a glance Carrot's a farmer and that Ditzy has strabismus.
• This Bites!: A variant early in the Navarone arc, where Cross manages to infiltrate Jonathan's office before contacting Jonathan himself. During the ensuing conversation, he casually threatens to inform the Vice Admiral's wife about Jonathan's eating habits (specifically, the fact that Jonathan throws out most of the meals she makes for him, due to the fact that they're full of vegetables — which he hates). Jonathan's right-hand man, Lieutenant Commander Drake, can't help but mutter that Cross is "as impossibly well-informed as he painted himself, too", only for Cross to inform him that he found the food in Jonathan's garbage bin. (Of course, the other reason is that he's seen the anime-only arc that Navarone appeared in and knows about Jonathan's habits from there.)

Films — Animation

• Done rather hilariously in Batman: Assault on Arkham when Amanda Waller manages to swiftly and easily answer one of Riddler's trademark riddles:
  The Riddler: ... Oh. You've heard that one before?
  Amanda Waller: No! I have Google! Just like the rest of the world!
• Played with in The Princess and the Frog, where Dr. Facilier "deduces" Prince Naveen's identity from a palm-reading, while Lawrence looks in the bad doctor's back pocket and cynically notes the newspaper announcing the prince's visit there. Given that Facilier really does consort with supernatural forces, it's ambiguous whether this trope was played straight or not.

Films — Live-Action

• 1994 Baker Street: Sherlock Holmes Returns: After awakening, Holmes tells Winslow that after dealing with the newest Moriarty he should investigate the phantom tiger murder. When Winslow incredulously asks how he could possibly know about that, he picks up the newspaper lying on the coffee table and hands it to her. The banner headline reads 'PHANTOM TIGER MURDER'.
• Balls of Fury: After earning entry into Feng's secret ping-pong tournament, the heroes are given a golden ping-pong paddle with a Chinese poem inscribed on it. Randy seemingly deduces the time, date, and location of the rendezvous for the transport to the tournament from the poem, but it turns out all that information was written on the back of the paddle in English, which nobody except him noticed.
• The Breakfast Club: Allison reels off a bunch of facts about Andrew (his height, weight, birth date, middle name, and Social Security number), and when Andrew asks if she's psychic, Allison admits she stole his wallet.
• Firestorm (1998): After being rescued by Jesse, Jennifer pauses to check the bird eggs she was protecting. Jesse looks over her shoulder at the eggs and then reels off the scientific name of the species. Jennifer is impressed by his ornithological knowledge. Until Jesse holds up the lid of the tin, which she had put to one side when she opened the tin, which has the species name written on it.
• Leave Her to Heaven: Ellen tells Richard that she knows about him after reading his novel because every book is a "confession." She then rattles off a bunch of facts about his life, to which he bewilderingly responds, "Shades of Sherlock." But then she admits she just got all that from the bio on the book's dust jacket.
• The Naked Gun 33⅓: The lab determines that a list of terrorist bombing targets came from Statesville Prison, after analyzing the wood fibers and talking to paper mills, which led them to a distribution center... where the trail ended. Luckily, the paper has STATESVILLE PRISON right there in the letterhead.
• Night at the Museum: Sacajawea is asked to track down the thief of Akmenrah's tablet from the tracks in the snow. She immediately deduces that he tried driving away, but his car slipped on the ice and crashed. Larry is amazed at her tracking skill until she points at the crashed car just a few yards away.
• Now You See Me: Merritt's shtick is mentalism, which includes reading people's minds via their body language; he uses this on Henley at their first meeting to guess her name, but Danny points out that it's on her coffee cup. This also sets up Merritt and Danny's mild rivalry.
• The Return of Sherlock Holmes: When Holmes buys the last Napoleon bust off Mr. Sandeford, Sandeford asks him how he deduced that he possessed the bust and his address. Holmes replies that after the sculptor provided the names of the purchasers, he glanced at the sculptor's records and copied Sandeford's address down.
• Robin Hood: The Rebellion: When the blind Friar Tuck addresses Robin Hood by name, Robin asks how he knew who he was. Tuck replies that the Lord may have taken his sight, but he still has his hearing and he had heard The Brute Brimstone call him Robin Hood during their battle.
• In Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock Holmes, Holmes walks into the mortuary just as Watson is starting an autopsy. He does a Sherlock Scan and then proceeds to tell Watson the deceased's occupation, general state of health, and cause of death. He tells Watson that Mr. Dunlevy's autopsy will have to wait till tomorrow as they only have ten minutes to catch their train. when Watson asks how he knew the dead man's name, Holmes replies "It's written on his chart".
• In The Sorcerer's Apprentice, a young Dave ends up split off from his school field trip group and wanders into an antique store where he meets Balthazar. When Balthazar refers to him by name, Dave is momentarily surprised, until Balthazar reveals it's written on his backpack.
• Star Trek IV: The Voyage Home: Kirk and Spock are trying to find some humpback whales in 1984 San Francisco. Spock tries to use a map to figure out the best way to search the city, but Kirk immediately suggests that they can find two Humpback whales named George and Gracie at the Cetacean Institute in Sausalito. Spock asks him how he knows this, and he replies "simple logic", while pointing to an advertisement for the whale exhibit on a bus that just pulled up.

Jokes

• Out on an Indian reservation, a white motorist comes across a Native American lying on the road with his ear pressed to the ground. The motorist stops and gets out of his car, calling to the Native American, "Hey man, are you alright?". The Indian replies, "Shush! There is... a yellow 1985 Jeep Explorer, currently driving 30mph about three miles west of here, whose tires badly need rotating. The driver is a 30-year-old Cherokee named Sam, from the United Keetoowah Band of Cherokee Indians. Sitting next to him is his girlfriend, a 27-year-old woman whose name is Frances but goes by Fran. She is three months pregnant." The white motorist asks, astonished, "You know all that from listening to the vibrations in the ground?" The Indian looks up and says, "No, they chucked me out here about ten minutes ago."
• In the 1940s, a white Hollywood director is preparing to film a movie in the deserts of the Western United States. As he's setting up, an elderly indigenous woman wanders by, looks at the sky, and comments "Tomorrow—rain." Sure enough, it rains the next day, saving the director valuable time. The following day, the same woman returns and says "Tomorrow—wind." The next day, a massive windstorm tears across the deserts. The director, thinking he has a Magical Native American on his hands, immediately demands that she be hired to foretell the weather and keep the movie on schedule. After a few weeks of successful predictions, one day the indigenous woman shows up and doesn't say anything. "And what will the weather be like tomorrow?" the director asks. The woman shrugs and says "I don't know—my radio's broken."

Literature

• Discworld:
  • In Feet of Clay, Cheery tells Vimes that he smokes Pantweed's Slim Panatellas — not through alchemical expertise, but by reading the packet on Vimes' desk.
  • In A Hat Full of Sky, Miss Level is astonished that Tiffany knows she once performed in a circus mind-reading act until Tiffany reminds her she keeps the circus poster hanging in her hallway.
  • Maskerade has a subversion: a visitor to Granny Weatherwax's cottage is intimidated to find that she knew he was coming, and Granny thinks how disappointing it is that visitors are always impressed by that, and never think to consider that there's only one road to her cottage and her kitchen window looks directly onto it. The narrative then immediately notes that Granny hadn't actually seen this particular visitor through the window, because she'd been looking at the fireplace instead, and she really did only know he was coming because she is a powerful witch, but she nonetheless considers this besides the point.
• From Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, when the main characters find an adult sleeping on the Hogwarts Express:
  "Who d'you reckon he is?" Ron hissed as they sat down and slid the door shut, taking the seats farthest away from the window.
  "Professor R. J. Lupin, " whispered Hermione at once.
  "How'd you know that?"
  "It's on his case," she replied, pointing at the luggage rack over the man's head.
• In The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, when Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect find themselves aboard the starship Heart of Gold, Ford comments "I think this ship's brand new, Arthur." Arthur replies "How can you tell? Have you got some exotic device for measuring the age of metal?" "No," Ford says, "I just found this sales brochure lying on the floor."
• In Jennings Follows a Clue, shortly after Jennings has first read Sherlock Holmes, he practises the Sherlock Scan on Darbishire, deducing that he had egg for breakfast that morning. Of course, as the two are at school together, they had the same breakfast.
• Sherlock Holmes:
  • In "The Adventure of the Yellow Face", Holmes stuns the client of the day by giving his name before he'd introduced himself.
    Holmes: My dear Mr. Grant Munro—
    Munro: What! You know my name?
    Holmes: If you wish to preserve your incognito, I would suggest that you cease to write your name upon the lining of your hat, or else that you turn the crown towards the person you are addressing.
  • He gets called out on this in "The Adventure of the Naval Treaty," when he identifies a complete stranger as not being a member of the Phelps family. At first the man is startled, but then he realizes that Holmes has simply read the monogram on his pocket watch. "For a moment I thought you'd done something clever."
  • Subverted in some stories, in which, when Holmes explains his deductions, the client responds in much the same way, without realising that, while the conclusions might seem obvious given the observations, most people wouldn't have made the observations.
  • In The Case of the Six Watsons by Robert Ryan, Holmes does his trick of describing an impending visitor. While Watson can work out how Holmes guessed most of the details, he's baffled as to how he knew the man had a moustache, until he later finds out the newspaper had published one of the new halftone photographs of the visitor, which Watson thinks is "a shabby trick on Holmes's part".
• After Harry Dresden and Michael Carpenter make a Dynamic Entry in Small Favor, Dresden addresses a woman named Monica. She asks if they're angels (as it happens, Michael is a Church Militant with a holy sword), but he just points to her name tag.
• The Thinking Machine: In "My First Experience with the Great Logician", Van Dusen performs a Sherlock Scan and is able to deduce his patient's name, address and profession; that he smokes; that he is wearing his clothes for the first time that winter; that he was widowed a few months earlier; that he has kept house since then; and that the house was infected with insects. After the narrator professes his astonishment, Van Dusen explains that the name, address, and occupation he got from the man's business card, which he read while he was unconscious. The other facts were actual deductions, however.
• Pops up twice in the Alternate History novel Ruled Britannia, where Cicily Sellis is a "cunning woman" who many believe to be a witch:
  • After introducing himself to Cicily Sellis on the street, Lope de Vega is astonished — and instantly thinks she may be a witch — when she recognizes him as a friend of William Shakespeare. She instead points out that she lives in the same building as Shakespeare does, and he has frequently mentioned de Vega when talking about his work.
  • The interaction plays out in reverse a few days later, when Shakespeare panics after Cicily Sellis innocuously asks him how de Vega is doing. She points out that not only has Shakespeare mentioned him in idle conversation, but she met him on the street as well.

Live-Action TV

• In an episode of Alien Nation, a Newcomer is killed in the opener by being tossed into the ocean. It's explained later that seawater is like acid to the Tenctonese. The victim's body is unrecognizable, but the detectives are immediately told his identity. When Sikes asks how they managed to do that given the damage to the body, he's immediately shown the victim's wallet, which is wet but otherwise fine. After all, just because seawater dissolves the body doesn't mean it suddenly does that to his clothes and property.
• Barney Miller: In "Inauguration", Dietrich cracks a case regarding someone sending threatening letters to Mayor Ed Koch:
  Dietrich: The paper type's consistant.
  Barney: It's not much to go on.
  Dietrich: Handwriting could be the same.
  Barney: Could be.
  Dietrich: Same return address.
  Barney: Why didn't you say so in the first place?
  Dietrich: Dramatic effect.
• In one episode of Bones, Hodgins identifies the clothes a victim was wearing as having come from a church thrift store. Cam and Zack are dumbfounded that he is able to do that until he rips out a label from the clothing and shows it to them.
• Buffy the Vampire Slayer:
  • Played With: Drusilla discusses a vision that she's had, and while she probably did get the information with her powers, Spike reveals that he has a more cogent source for the same information:
    Angelus: You can see all that in your head?
    Spike: No, you ninny. She read it in the morning paper.
  • In a somewhat similar example: in the final episode, Angel is able to guess that Buffy and Spike have grown closer because he can smell him on her. Later, Spike says that he knows that she and Angel kissed; she assumes it's from the scent, but he sarcastically replies that no, he saw them with his vampire eyeballs.
• In Criminologist Himura and Mystery Writer Arisugawa, Arisugawa takes care of his neighbour's pet bird while she's away for the week. Himura takes one look at the bird and states its owner's gender, age, and height. When Arisugawa asks how he can possibly deduce all of that, Himura reveals that he's screwing with him and met the neighbour a few days beforehand.
• CSI: Miami:
  • In "Dude, Where’s My Groom?", Ryan and Walter discover a stolen painting hidden underneath a valueless one. Walter, who studied art history, is trying to identify it from style and colour choice. He says that it could be a Cézanne, or someone from the Fauvism movement:
    Ryan: It's a Matisse.
    Walter: You studied the French masters, too?
    Ryan: No, it's signed.
  • In "By the Book", the crew is examining a bizarre crime scene. Dr. Tom Loman is examining the corpse when Ryan tells him that they don't have an ID yet. Tom casually says that she is Andrea Edison. Ryan looks amazed and asks Tom how he knows. Tom calmly replied that he found her ferry pass in her pocket and hands it over to Ryan.
• Inverted in CSI: NY: In one of Adam's early forays into the field, he asks Danny a question about the victim as they approach the scene. Danny says the man fell from somewhere between the 6th and 10th floors but adds that if Adam had read the autopsy report, he would've already known that.
  Adam: You did not read Sid's autopsy report.
  Danny: No, Mac told me. That's how I do it.
• Dead Man's Gun: In "The Bounty Hunter", would-be Bounty Hunter Raymond Jakes goes to Retired Gunfighter Otis for lessons. During their conversation, this exchange happens:
  Otis: You're a storekeeper, right?
  Jakes: *gasps* How did you know?
  Otis: *nods over Jakes' shoulder* The signage on your wagon.
• Doctor Who: In "The Idiot's Lantern":
  The Doctor: Well, the thing is, Detective Inspector Bishop-
  Bishop: How do you know my name?
  The Doctor: It's written inside your collar. Bless your mum.
• Elementary's pilot episode has Sherlock Holmes explain how he uses the Sherlock Scan and deduction to learn things, having previously demonstrated it by determining various aspects of Joan Watson's background. Then she asks how he knew her father had had an affair.
  Sherlock: Google. [Beat] Well, not everything is deducible.
• Forever: Jo and Hanson are amazed Henry tells them the sunken ship was "the Empress of Africa, a slave ship," and ask how he could possibly know that. We've just seen Henry looking at the ship's wheel, which has the words "Empress of Africa" prominently carved on it, and Jo and Hanson had just found shackles among the recovered items. (Henry also knows because he was killed on the ship, but for once there's an easy, mundane explanation handy.)
• Get Smart. In Get Smart Again, Maxwell Smart deduces the identity of the man who escaped over the fence leaving his pants behind. He rattles off three or four obscure clues before pointing out the name on the label.
• Law & Order: Special Victims Unit: A lab tech inspects the trash from a site where a girl was held prisoner. When she tells the detectives the type of sandwich the girl ate, Fin is amazed she could tell just from the crumbs. She then points out that she read the label on the discarded wrapper.
• Mimpi Metropolitan: In their first meeting, Melani is surprised that Bambang knows where she works when they just tell each other's names. Bambang says that he just read "Hits TV" written on her uniform.
• On NewsRadio, Bill and Dave are in an airport returning from a convention. When an attendant greets Bill by name, Bill is flattered that his fame precedes him. Then Dave points out that Bill is still wearing his nametag.
• Sherlock: Subverted in "The Blind Banker". When Sherlock mentions to an acquaintance that said man has been around the world twice in two months, he scoffs and asks if he deduced it from his shoes. Sherlock says he was just chatting with his secretary. Later, Watson asks him how he really knew, since he didn't talk to the secretary. Sherlock answers he deduced everything from the man's watch and just wanted to screw with him.
• In Granada TV's Sherlock Holmes adaptation of "The Devil's Foot", Holmes meets a country pastor and does his usual observation and deduction of the man which is of course amazingly accurate, including the subject of his last sermon. When the impressed pastor asks how he could possibly have known, Holmes explains what he observed. As for the sermon, he playfully revealed that he had read a copy of the local church's last Sunday service program beforehand.
• Spaced: Played straight, then given a twist, when a pair of Matrix-esque agents have doorstepped Brian, looking for Daisy:
  Agent 1: Can you tell us where she is, Mr. Topp?
  Brian: How do you know my name?
  Agent 1: It's written on the doorbell.
  Brian: ...Alright.
  Agent 2: Where is she, Brian?
  Brian: ..."Brian" isn't on the doorbell.

Puppet Shows

• Sesame Street: The LP Havin' Fun with Ernie & Bert has a track called "The Listening Game." Ernie blindfolds Bert and has him guess what certain sounds are. First Bert guesses a ticking alarm clock, and the sound it makes when Ernie winds it. Then Bert guesses a vacuum cleaner, and then a ping pong ball. When Bert guesses that Ernie is opening the cookie jar and eating a cookie, Cookie Monster comes into the apartment (from somewhere outside). Bert guesses that Cookie Monster had eaten the cookies, the ping pong ball, the vacuum cleaner, the alarm clock, run out the door, ridden away on his motorcycle, and crashed into a truckload of chickens.
  Ernie: Why, that's fantastic! How did you know that, Bert?
  Bert: Easy. He ate my blindfold too.

Theatre

• In the comedy Sheer Luck Holmes, Holmes does a Sherlock Scan on a Damsel in Distress that turns out to be unerringly accurate, to Watson's amazement. When told this, the woman says she's glad Holmes received her letter describing herself and why she wanted to meet with him. When Watson queries Holmes about this letter, he feigns ignorance.

Video Games

• A variation from "Sherlock"s' perspective occurs in Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood. Claudia learns that Edigio Troche might be an asset to Ezio's mission when the man visits the brothel she runs (and Ezio owns). Later, when Edigio is complaining to Ezio about his financial difficulties, Ezio brings up that he spends money on whoring. Edigio is impressed and Ezio lets him believe he performed a Sherlock Scan.
• Half-Life: Opposing Force: When Corporal Shephard comes to following the plane crash at the beginning of the game, the scientist who tended to him immediately identifies him by his last name and rank, despite having no prior contact until that moment. The scientist then immediately clarifies that he read the tag on Shephard's uniform. This also explains why every other NPC in the game addresses Shephard by name or rank on first sight.
• Tales of Symphonia: When Lloyd and Genis are trying to catch up with Colette's group, they pay a fortuneteller in Triet to "divine" their location, and she tells them they're headed for the nearby ruins. Genis is skeptical, but the fortuneteller informs him that "The Chosen's companion said so, so there's no doubt."
• Timesplitters Future Perfect: At the end of the Scotland level, Cortez finds a photograph that ends up leading to the next level. Anya rattles off a list of variables she can use to deduce the area...and he simply reads what's written on the back.

Web Animation

• In the SuperThings episode "A Huge Mess", Doctor Volt sends out an alert to the heroes that Power Gopher has grown giant and is stealing from all the sweet shops in the town. When asked on how he knows this, Doctor Volt tries to spin a tale that they have a high-tech tracking device throughout the city, though Mech Fixer demands he tells the truth: they just saw it out the window.

Webcomics

• Freefall: Strip 2315: The final panel:
  Police Chief: The press. How did you know something was happening here?
  The press robot: Keen investigative instincts. Plus, I saw police throwing other police out the window.
• Girl Genius: How Gil Wulfenbach divined the creator of a slaver engine. One of his underlings is impressed that he can apparently recognize the creator of the device from its design style, but he admits that in this case, it was easier than that — "The fool signed it!"
• Kevin & Kell: In a fall 1998 storyline, Vin Vulpin has joined "The Institute for Species Purity". When Rudy and Fiona wonder why, Lindesfarne lists off a host of reasons, prompting Rudy to remark "Good guess." Then Lindesfarne reveals it wasn't a guess — she read it on his membership application.

Western Animation

• Done twice in the Toby Danger episode of Freakazoid!. First, after Dr. Sin activates the world's largest semiconductor, The Danger family finds the wreckage and Dr. Danger predicts that Dr. Sin will use the semiconductor to attack Las Vegas. When Dash asks how he knows Dr. Danger calls it a "scientific, scholarly guess", as the camera pans back to show Las Vegas under attack at that very moment but only the doctor can see it. The second time, Dr Danger is setting up a weapon to destroy the semiconductor in front of a hotel when he predicts that this hotel is the next target. When Dash asks how he can possibly know that, Dr. Danger casually says that every other place in town has been burned to the ground.
• On Gravity Falls, the (mostly) Phony Psychic Gideon does this:
  Gideon: I'll read your mind if I'm able/Something tells me your name's "Mabel"!
  Mabel: [mystified] How'd he do that?
  [camera pulls back to show that "MABEL" is written on her sweater]
• The Real Ghostbusters: A very literal example in one episode, where the team meets Sherlock Holmes (or at least his ghost) who immediately starts referring to them by name without being introduced... because they all have said names printed on their jumpsuits.
• The Simpsons: In "Lisa's Wedding", a fortune teller momentarily impresses Lisa by knowing her name.
  Fortune Teller: I've been waiting for you... Lisa.
  Lisa: [Gasp!] How did you know my name?
  Fortune Teller: Your nametag.
• Static Shock: In a crossover episode, Batman rescues Static when he gets knocked out by the villains and takes him to the Batcave to recover. He calls Static "Virgil" when the latter awakens and Static compliments him on truly being the World's Greatest Detective. Batman then shows Static that his student ID actually fell out of his pocket and advises him not to carry it around while in uniform in the future.
• In an episode of The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries, Granny is called in to investigate a haunting at the White House. She apparently recognizes the Vice-President, but, when he asks how, she admits that she read his name tag, which just said: "Hello, I'm Vice-President Obsequious."
• Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Splinter reveals to the Turtles that the Technodrome has returned and is smashing everything in its path. They're shocked at how he knows this. Was it a mystic revelation? He tells them, no, he saw it on the 5 o'clock news.
• W.I.T.C.H.: Caleb is hiding from a relentless pursuer known as the Tracker while the Guardians try to stop him, and Hay Lin's grandmother Yan Lin arrives at his hiding place and reveals that she knows about his situation. When asked how she knew about the Tracker, she quips: "I have powers that sense the presence of evil. Plus a granddaughter with a cell phone."

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