Ryoko: Think about it: the devil is trying to make off with the heroine, and the hero just runs away?!
Haruhi: [pointing at herself] The devil?
In some situations, it can be unclear who someone is talking about, and so they will need to seek confirmation.
This can be especially true of insults, particularly if there is a group of people present and proper names aren't being used, but instead vague descriptors such as "that idiot!" or "You moron!"
Of course, this isn't limited to insults, but to any statement where it's unclear who the subject is, often as a result of Ambiguous Syntax.
The person inquiring might even point at themselves while asking if they're the object of discussion.
Sometimes this can lead to hurt feelings, other times simply shows the obliviousness of someone if there's no one else in the group who might possibly match the description.
Or it can show the original speaker to be a moral coward if the person insulted asks if they were the intended target, only for the original speaker to engage in Blatant Lies and deny it. Especially if the person they insulted happens to have both the authority and temperament to inflict a Disproportionate Retribution on them.
It is possible for someone to inquire if they're the subject of a comment like this wordlessly, usually with an inquisitive look or a Death Glare, only for the first person to reassure them that they weren't talking about them. Frequently overlaps with Stealth Insult.
In some cases, it happens because someone is trying to have two conversations at once, one in person and one on the phone (or in some cases, on multiple phone lines), and the person on the phone gets a comment meant for the person with them (or on the other line).
Can overlap with Got Volunteered, where someone realizes that they've been saddled with a (often unpleasant) job. Possibly with ties to being The Chosen One with a side of The Call Knows Where You Live. May Overlap with Bait-and-Switch Comparison
If a person doesn't realize they're the subject of conversation, it may be Oblivious to His Own Description.
Not to be confused with You Talkin' to Me?, which is when someone is trying to intimidate another person.
See also Insult Accuracy Acceptance, I Take Offense to That Last One, and At Least I Admit It.
Contrast with Why Are You Looking at Me Like That? when they are unaware of what the gawking means.
Examples:
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Anime & Manga
- The Disappearance of Nagato Yuki-chan: After Yuki's attempts to give Kyon Valentine's chocolate goes awry because Haruhi chose that time to gift him with "friendship chocolate", Ryoko tells Haruhi that part of the blame lay with Yuki, comparing it to a situation in a manga where the devil is trying to make off with the heroine and the hero runs off (with Yuki as the hero and Kyon as the heroine). Haruhi points at herself and flatly asks, "The devil?" Ryoko ignores her and continues her rant.
- Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu: Kaname is talking with a rival rugby team to her own school's sharing a snarky laugh with their team captain about how pathetic Jindai's team is. The captain of the rival team then asks Kaname to go out with him, and she declines by saying, "I have no interest in going out with gorillas." The captain of the rival team looks confused, "Gorillas? You mean me?" Kaname confirms, "They say they're going extinct because of the civil war in Rwanda. And to think, you can find them right here." The rugby captain laughs as though he thought it was Actually Pretty Funny before making to manhandle Kaname, only to be hit with an object thrown by Sousuke as an Offhand Backhand, as he's still reading the rules to rugby.
Fan Works
- Danganronpa 2: Re:Captured: In the second trial, when Akane is accused as the murderer of the case, Gundham asks her about the evidence they provided while referring her as "large one", much to Akane’s confusion, lamenting if she’s too big.
Akane: Wait...am I 'large one'? I can't really tell...I'm not that big, am I?
Kazuichi: You seem pretty casual for someone who's under suspicion of murder!
Films — Animation
- Monsters vs. Aliens: Played for Laughs when Big Bad Gallaxhar tries to select one particular alien to escort some captured monsters to a disposal area. The funny part stems from all the aliens being exact clones of Gallaxhar, and they're all identical. Nevertheless, Gallaxhar, in a pique of micromanagement, tries to select one particular clone out of a regiment of them, and does this through a viewscreen. It takes the clones almost half a minute to figure out which one Gallaxhar is selecting, as though this would matter somehow.
Films — Live-Action
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets (2002): Harry and his friends are wondering if Hagrid is the one who let the monster out of the Chamber of Secrets. Ron jokingly suggests asking Hagrid if he has set anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately. Hagrid immediately shows up and says, "Mad and hairy? You wouldn't be talking about me, now would you?"
- Michael (1996): After Quinlan, Dorothy, Huey, and Michael end up in jail overnight, Dorothy laments that one of her ex-husbands used to get sent to jail, but he had the decency to leave her out of it. She declares, "I hate you!"
Michael: What? You hate me?
Dorothy: Not you.
Huey: You hate me?
Dorothy: Not you.
Quinlan: Process of elimination... - Space Jam: During a timeout, Swackhammer queries his Monstars about Michael Jordan. "Why didn't you get this guy?" he rages at them. "He's the one I want for Moron Mountain." Jordan hears this, and knowing the Monstars stole their talent from A-list NBA players, sees an opportunity to set things right. "Hey!" Jordan calls out, at which Swackhammer turns to regard him, and responds, "Are you talking to me?" Jordan answers him with "Yeah, I'm talking to you. You want a piece o' me? Come get it." This allows Jordan to raise the stakes of the game, betting himself against the Monstars returning the talent they siphoned from five NBA players.
Literature
- Gate: Mizuki Kouhara, a member of the Japanese Diet, is trying to score political points with her questions for the witnesses from the Special Region (the world on the other side of the Gate), and it's not going well. But then she is shut down hard by Rory. Frustrated and infuriated, Kouhara says, "It looks like someone forgot to teach you how to speak to an adult." Rory facetiously asks, "You don't mean me, do you?" When Kouhara confirms she does, Rory is about to do her Reaper schtick on the woman when Itami intervenes, revealing that Rory is magnitudes of centuries older than Kouhara, leaving Kouhara somewhat embarrassed that she'd been the one being disrespectful to an elder.
- Winnie the Pooh: In the chapter "In Which Eeyore Has a Birthday and Gets Two Presents", Piglet tells Eeyore, "Many happy returns of the day." Eeyore then asks Piglet to confirm what he just said.
"Many happy returns of the day," said Piglet again.
"Meaning me?"
"Of course, Eeyore."
Live-Action TV
- Castle:
- In "Poof You're Dead", Castle and Beckett are watching footage of a wealthy businessman who died in a plane explosion over the Atlantic, believing that Zalman Drake, who ran a magic shop and was recently murdered, was tied to the incident somehow. Castle has an epiphany watching the video and says, "Dummy!" Beckett shoots him a look, and he says, "Not you. A real dummy." He explains his theory, that the magician helped the wealthy man, revealed to be under investigation for financial fraud, fake his own death, and that it was a dummy in the cockpit of the plane, with the billionaire piloting it remotely from the back of the van that the magician loaded him into.
- In one episode, Beckett gets a phone call from her boss, Capt. Montgomery, at the same time, Castle gets a call from his agent telling him there's a major deal to do three new Nikki Heat novels. Montgomery tells Beckett that the mayor expects her cooperation in the deal because it makes the NYPD look good. Beckett, just now being hit with the reveal of the new books at the same time as Castle, turns to him and says, "I am going to kill you!" only to remember that she's still on the phone with Montgomery, and hastily adds, "No, sir, not you. No, I'd be happy to help His Honour in any way I can."
- Doctor Who: In "Silence in the Library", River Song calls for "Pretty Boy" to come with her. The Tenth Doctor doesn't initially realize she's talking about him.
River Song: Pretty Boy, with me, I said.Donna: [gives the Doctor a look]The Doctor: [Beat. Eyes widen] Oh, I'm "Pretty Boy"?Donna: Yes! Ooh, that came out a bit quick.The Doctor: [mildly insulted] "Pretty"?Donna: [shrugs] Eh.
- Frasier: When Frasier loses his job, after going through the stages of grief, he has a complete emotional breakdown.
Frasier: My life is ruined. I've lost everything.
Roz: Oh, come on, everyone has problems. Look at my life.
Frasier: No job! No relationship! No hope!
Roz: You could say the same thing about me.
Frasier: I was talking about you. - NewsRadio: Bill tried to goose his ratings by editing a conversation with Jerry Seinfeld to make him sound crazy.
Jimmy: I had no idea he was so insane.
Lisa: He really isn't.
Jimmy: I meant Bill. - Night Court: From time to time, the court is visited by a sleazy journalist named Al Craven, who's always looking for lurid, graphic stories from the court to publish. He tries to invoke his longstanding relationship with the court in a conversation with Judge Harry Stone, and Harry replies, "Craven, our relationship is that of a tick to a dog." Craven unashamedly points to himself and says, "Tick, right?"
Theatre
- The Trail to Oregon!: After Mother has an emotional moment comparing hers and Father's marriage to her owning a dumb, dangerous dog that has to be let go, Father has a Metaphorgotten moment where he has to clarify whether she's talking about an actual dog or about him.
Father: I just want to double-check. If we're talking about a literal dog then yes, to hell with that dog. Family first. [Beat. More serious] But we're talking about me, aren't we?Mother: Yes, Jack Bauernote , we are.Father: Okay. Well, then, my opinion of the dog is completely different! You can't just get rid of a dog!
Video Games
- Final Fantasy XIV: During the Hildibrand sidequests, the heroes debate over who has to be the "poor chump" who has to compete in the coliseum to secure its prize before the Thief of Many Faces gets to it first. It doesn't take long before all eyes fall on the Warrior of Light, whose reaction all but says, "Who? Me?"
- In Transformers: War for Cybertron, during the second Decepticon level, Starscream exclaims his frustration with his group triggering a trap as he yells,"Fools!" Skywarp demands he clarifies if he was referring to the Autobots or Thundercracker and himself, as he believes that Starscream doesn't respect him. Starscream silences him before proceeding to call him a fool.
- Warcraft III: During the Azjol-Nerub missions, you run into a Nerubian whose choice of epithets happens to apply to Arthas and Anub'arak both.
Nerubian: Look, brothers! The traitor king!
Arthas: Who, me?
Anub'arak: They are referring to me, death knight.
Web Original
- My Brother, My Brother and Me: In episode 437, Griffin mentions to Justin and Travis that on multiple occasions while editing the audio for the show, he's had to cut out some "pretty bad throat noises" caused by someone drinking water during recording. Griffin doesn't name names, but when this is pointed out...
Travis: ...is it me?Griffin: No.Justin: Is it me?Griffin: (Beat) ...it's not Travis.
Western Animation
- Back to the Future: The Animated Series: When Marty went back in time to the Civil War, he and Einstein were taken prisoner by Confederate general Beauregard Tannen.
Tannen: Toss him in a cage. Give him a bone to chew on.
Marty: Tough break, Einstein. What about me?
Tannen: I was talking about you, Butthead! - Daria: Helen, ever the Workaholic is carrying on a conversation with her boss Eric while she's also getting ready for dinner. She sees her husband Jake putting extra cheese on his tacos, and she suddenly shouts, "Hey! What did the doctor tell you about cheese?! [Beat] No, not you Eric. How would I know what the doctor told you about cheese? [Beat] Why, sure, I'd love to hear what the doctor told you about cheese." It's at this point that Jake suffers a mild heart attack. To Helen's credit, she is appropriately alarmed by this and gives it her full attention.
- Family Guy: Parodied; in the episode "Thanksgiving," Stewie is set up for a Cutaway Gag after Kevin admits to abandoning his platoon. Stewie, however, was unaware that he was supposed to have a follow-up.
Stewie: [looks around the room] Me? Am-Am I... Am I supposed to say something?
- Looney Tunes: In the 1968 short See Ya Later Gladiator, Daffy and Speedy are whisked back in time to Ancient Rome, where they almost get hit by a speeding chariot. Daffy yells, "Look where you're going, you fathead!", causing its tough driver to back up and threateningly ask if Daffy meant him.
Daffy: No, no. I was, uh, talking to my friend here. Wasn't I, Fathead?Speedy: No, Señor Duck. I'm Speedy Gonzales. He's Fathead.
- Pinky and the Brain: In "Brinky", Romy addresses the mice as "my two dads, Saget and Coulier". Pinky asks to confirm if Brain is "Saget".
- Ultimate Spider-Man: In "The Sinister Six", Spider-Man fights the Sinister Six for the first time and mocks the Rhino. Rhino furiously asks him if he’s talking to him, and Spider-Man responds with more mockery to get Rhino to charge at him.
Spider-Man: So, I thought you guys got together to destroy Spider-moi. Or are you too stupid to remember now, HORN-HEAD?
Rhino: Are you talkin' to ME?!
Spider-Man: Anyone else in your zoo have a horn on their head and happen to be a big ol' numbskull?