Suspiciously Specific Denial / Comic Strips

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• In Adam@home:
  • The principal announced the school closing early due to inclement weather, then added, "Be sure to tell your parents this has nothing to do with teachers wanting to get good seats at Julio's Cantina for Coach Baum's retirement party."
  • In another episode: "Clayton definitely isn't setting up a Kickstarter campaign for my pony!" To Katy's credit, she immediately realizes she said too much.
• In Brewster Rockit, a building sign reads, "Area 51 Flavors Ice Cream (Not a Secretive Government Agency)."
• Calvin and Hobbes:
  • In a variation on the trope, Calvin tells his mother that aliens have landed in the backyard and demand to talk to her.
    Calvin: You go on out! I'll guard the cookies in the kitchen!
  • There's also the incident when Calvin and Hobbes push the car into a ditch and Calvin hopes to sneak out of the house before his parents find out. "No need to get up, or look, for example, out the window! Just stay where you are for another ten minutes!"
  • Calvin, naturally, is the king of this trope. In one strip he walks past his parents, "innocently" humming and casually mentioning he's looking for a bucket: "La da dee doo, I think I'll get a bucket...doo dah de doo...nothing's wrong, ba da dum...just need a bucket to hold some...stuff." The parents, not fooled, both look at each other and say, "Your turn!". In the previous comic, we have already learned that Calvin, in an effort to fix a leaky sink, has flooded the bathroom.
  • Calvin denies his involvement in the Noodle Incident when he has mistakenly assumed that his teacher told his mom about it.
• Dilbert:
  • One example: (paraphrased):
    P.H.B.: There is no truth to the rumor that we are moving jobs to the South Pole, where highly skilled Eskimos will work for 68% less than you do.
    Dilbert: That's good, because there aren't any Eskimos at the South Pole.
    P.H.B.: [panicked look] Excuse me, I have to make a phone call.
  • In another strip...
    P.H.B.: These rumors are ridiculous. We're not considering lobotomies — certainly not at the prices we were quoted.
  • Then there was Dilbert's indignant protestation to his girlfriend: "I do not love that computer more than I love you!" Followed by his silent prayer: "Please don't ask about the laptop..."
  • Even Dogbert, normally an excellent liar, falls prey to it.
• Happened in Doonesbury with a fictional politician. A reporter had just begun a question when he shouted, "No! I don't even know the woman!" His advisor found this a singularly unpromising start.
• The Family Circus:
  • From a Christmas strip:
    Jeffy: You know those packages hidden in your closet, Mommy? We didn't find them.
  • Another one from The Family Circus:
    Dolly: Guess what, Daddy? Next week is your birthday, but we're not giving you a surprise party or anything like that.
• Garfield has this Sunday strip, where Garfield claims that Odie is going to lie about Garfield painting him green. However, he actually mentions painting Odie green, as well as what type of brush he used, in his denial.
  • In this one, Garfield didn't eat "one of those birds that looks kind of like a sparrow, but isn't". He forgot what they're called.
  • In this one, Jon is quite suspicious about how Liz knows what happened to his accordion.
  • In this strip, Jon is carrying two treats and offers Garfield one, saying it "doesn't have a pill in it, of course! That would be silly! Who could imagine such a thing?!". Deeming that denial too specific, Garfield eats the other treat. Jon's laughter suggests the pill was in the one that Garfield ate.
  Garfield: I think I've just been had.
  • Garfield delivers Arlene a letter where she's asked "Isn't Garfield charming and handsome" and says the sender signed it as "Nobody you know".
  Arlene: Nice try, "Nobody".
• In My Cage, without prompting, Max denies that a horse is his son.

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