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will the real someone please stand up

From Wiktionary, the free dictionary

English

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Alternative forms

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Etymology

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From the 1950s panel show To Tell the Truth, in which the line was said after votes came in as to who the people thought was the real person they were supposed to find out.

Phrase

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will the real (someone/something) please stand up

  1. (idiomatic, humorous) A request for the real person or thing to be identified from among others that are similar.
    • 1972 fall quarter, James W. Chapman, The Chaplain, page 53:
      Will the Real Hymnal Please Stand Up?
    • 1976, Marquis Childs, “Glimpses of The Real Carter”, in The Washington Post:
      Will the real Jimmy Carter please stand up? Is it the twice-born Baptist who can preach love and compassion with true fervor? Or is it the tough relentless office-seeker with a pious front of “religiosity?”
    • 1977 July, D. C. Owens, “Softball at NRMC”, in The Clipper, volume 11, number 2, Memphis, Tenn.: Naval Regional Medical Center, page 7:
      WILL THE REAL CHARLIE BROWN PLEASE STAND UP?
    • 1980 December, “Appendix A: Bibliography of BBN Packet Radio Temporary Notes”, in Command and Control Related Computer Technology: Packet Radio (Report No. 4340), prepared for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, page 33:
      Will the Real SPP Please Stand Up
    • 1982, Barbara Morgenroth, Will the Real Renie Lake Please Stand Up?, New York, N.Y.: Fawcett Juniper Books, →ISBN:
      Will the Real Renie Lake Please Stand Up?
    • 1996 March 18, Barbara Amiel, “The stream of anti-Israeli vitriol”, in Maclean’s‎[1], archived from the original on 15 October 2022:
      I remember that moment when the host of the show would say, “Will the real Mr. X please stand up.” One fake would start out of his chair and then, bashfully, the real person would stand up to studio applause. There have been moments when I wanted to ask, “Would the real Mr. Arafat please stand up,” but they have been very fleeting.
    • 2000, Eminem, "The Real Slim Shady", The Marshall Mathers LP:
      May I have your attention please?
      Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
      I repeat
      Will the real Slim Shady please stand up?
      We're gonna have a problem here.
    • 2001 March 26, n4ca, aus.culture.gothic (Usenet):
      [delurk][long] will the real goth please stand up […] but am I Goth? Am I NotaGoth? Am I a Closet Goth? Is there a 12 step program? Am I welcome?
    • 2005 April 13, Leon Neyfakh, Harvard Crimson‎[2]:
      BOOKENDS: Will the Real Jonathan Safran Foer Please Stand Up?
    • 2006 September 8, Tim Hallam, Geograph Britain and Ireland‎[3]:
      Will The Real Woodhall Spa Please Stand up? / This was it folks, the REAL Woodhall Spa.
    • 2007, Fran Harris, Will the Real You Please Stand Up?, Deerfield Beach, Fla.: Health Communications, Inc., →ISBN:
      Will the real you please stand up? : 7 spiritual strategies to help you discover your purpose and live it with passion
    • 2007, Catherine Beavis, Claire Charles, Gender and Education, volume 19, page 691:
      ‘Would the ‘real’ girl gamer please stand up?’ Gender, LAN cafes and the reformulation of the ‘girl’ gamer
    • 2007, Shannon Rose Riley, English Language Notes:
      Racing the Archive: Will the Real William DuBois Please Stand Up?
    • 2007 August 15, Errol Morris, The New York Times‎[4], section “Opinionator”:
      Will the Real Hooded Man Please Stand Up
    • 2007 October 9, Retannical D. Russell, PLAYBACK:stl‎[5], archived from the original on 11 October 2007:
      Will the Real Blue-Eyed Soul Artists Please Stand Up?
    • 2008, Gerry Ryan, Would the Real Gerry Ryan Please Stand Up, Penguin Ireland, →ISBN:
      Would the Real Gerry Ryan Please Stand Up
    • 2010, Geo Takach, Will the Real Alberta Please Stand Up?, The University of Alberta Press, →ISBN:
      Will the real Alberta please stand up?
    • 2011 fall, EHS: The Magazine of Episcopal High School, volume 63, number 2, page 61:
      Claiborne Holmes Kinnard V, Franklin, Tenn., “Will the real Bruiser please stand up?”
    • 2015 December 25, Mark D. Shepheard, Art, Site and Spectacle: Studies in Early Modern Visual Culture:
      ‘Will the Real Boccherini Please Stand Up’: New Light on an Eighteenth-Century Portrait in the National Gallery of Victoria

References

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