My Twitter profile - Past SurveysOkay, so we all have our plans ready for what we'll do when we inevitably get zapped into our opposite genders and have to prove our identities. However...
Role reversal: what would it take for you to believe someone claiming they're your friend but have been turned into the opposite gender? http://www.egscomics.com/?date=2010-11-01
The secret handshake, what else!
Something I know that only this friend would know, and even then it could be a prank. Other than that, magic. :P
We would re-have one of our discussions on subjects not suitable for these tweets if I want them to be posted.
For 2 of my friends we have a system in place but others will have to answer a predetermined question only they would know.
secrets, things known only to them, physical traits like scars, fingerprints etc.. dna would presumably be too different.
to know what names we call each of our three friends by who are all named alex.
Like I said for your last question, most of my friends and I have key words setup to confirm who we are.
Demonstration of the transforming tech on me. Anything else I'd declare it too unbelievable and probably a trick.
As a skeptic, I'm not sure. Hmm, information about things we have done together? Maybe I need to setup trust passwords...
I'd discreetly tell an inside joke.
Quote internet movies and memes with them to test their awesomeness. (Metal Gear Awesome or YuGiOh/DBZ Abridged)
An intimate knowledge to answer every question that I would ask of them. Answer enough questions, and I might believe them.
Depends on the gender. A secret would help, though, and some facial features would probably be alike.
depends highly on the amount of weirdness I have already experienced
well, that depends on which friend, and which gender they origionally were... If they were one of my good male friends, easily.
Assuming that only their body (not my memories) had been altered, a quick rehash of a private conversation should do the trick.
Depends on the type of friendship, I guess. Something Only They Would Say would be easiest, but if you don't know them well...
If you saw Batman Friday, he went with the 'embarrassing secrets' option after switching bodies with Batwoman. XD
Depending on how complete the transformation is, I'd have to go with shared private knowledge as identifying means.
Not a whole lot: my friends are almost all fans, so the protocols for "I'm really Such-and-So" are mutually understood already.
Unique knowledge. Getting into their own online accounts (Facebook, Twitter, email) would help.
Depends on the friend. There are a couple of events that others would recount one way that my friends would recount differently
i'd ask friend to repeat a few inside stories/jokes. once identity confirmed, party!
Trivial facts that would only be known by me or other really close friends. Also, telling me how it was done...
They'd definitely have to give me an example of a recent event I witnessed that they were in.
Reference to a specific event or a specific in-joke between only the two of us. Followed by a litany of personal history.
They have to act like my certain friend. Idk really though.
I usually trust people rather easily... But the person would need to pass a knowledge test about my relationship with them.
One, I'd ask them something only they'd know the answer to, and check how they reply too. After that, I start asking how.
I would ask them something that only my friend would know and ask them about true and false events in our lives.
they'd have to sign an email with their pgp private key :-P Or share a very uncommon/unknown fact about me or them.
Possibly by telling me something only the two of us would know. Their attitude and personality would also help.
A pie is why 3.14159 of 22/7 is so divine even with a bit of whine. Who else would make up a rhyme as lame as that then me?
For my best friend, grab the boobs. He and I (both male) pretend grope each other all the time. If it's him, s/he'll grab back.
Asking something only they would know (like the name of the elementary school PE teacher they were fond of.)
Some in-joke or other story that only means something to my social circles.
This is a loaded question for so much of your readership. My friends' reactions have been mostly cool. If talking overt gender.
Answer: I'll Do Anything For Love, But I Wont Do That by Meatloaf. Answer in there.
I would ask what did we do while watching Tora Tora Tora in college that made the Professor tell us to knock it off.
It depends on the friend. Some would easily be able to prove it, while others wouldn't be able to.
For most of my friends, I could tell simply by the way they acted. In fact, all my friends are overly "weird," like I am!
Wait, I have friends?
Depends on who they claim to be and why they claim they're revealing it to me. If it's a woman who wants to hang out then OK.
My Response:
There are a lot of answers similar to the last survey, which is to be expected, but I honestly expected more people to have stricter criteria when the shoe was on the other foot. This isn't to say I expected hypocrisy. I just generally expect proving something as outlandish as this to be an uphill battle, and that while "something only I would know" is reasonable and possibly the best, if not only, approach, it's also reasonable for the person hearing it to remain skeptical short of actually witnessing a transformation.
One thing I've noticed a lack of on here is Doctor Who trivia as a criteria for proving one's identity. This may be worth considering the next time one finds themselves in this situation.
My Answer:
I would pretty much have to see the transformation in action, I think. I'm very paranoid about pranks, and I would suspect someone was trying to pull a fast one. If one acted significantly upset about it, however, I'd probably at least humor them. It's also possible I would humor them solely in the pursuit of the truth.
This is, of course, assuming something like if a dude came up to me tomorrow and claimed to be one of my female friends. If I lived in the EGS universe, in particular Moperville, I might be more open to the possibility.
Thanks for having my 22/7.
ReplyDeleteThough the main reason why I doubt there be a lot of Doctor Who trivia is because all fans of that would know. New data only created in a way the person you know is the only way around a brain copy. Since the brain copy would go on what is the most probable such as a bad pun or joke rather then rhyme.
Then again a fake copy is less probable then gender swapping.
W00T, I made it to number 15. But yeah, if a chick came up to me, claiming to be one of my male friends, it'd be real simplee to figure out if that were the truth. Even if the transformation affected their thought patterns (like Elliot's) they'd still be able to react to things as themselves (like when Elliot freaked at being mild mannered). And no girl would EVER act like my friends. Even the really weird girls I hang out with.
ReplyDeleteWay to sell yourself, Sam.
ReplyDeleteIn my case, male to female or vice versa, my immediate response would be acceptance. When they inevitably ask why I'm not reacting more strongly, I'd act as if they were always a man/woman. Pretty sure their response would both reveal the truth, AND be hilarious.
I'm actually fairly open to this kind of relatively unexpected thing happening. I'd probably not grill them too much and shift into my friendly 'talking to people' mode until I was convinced by their mannerisms or other attempts to convince me. If someone is the same person and aren't actively pretending to be someone else, it should be fairly evident. Unless it's someone I don't know too well or haven't seen in ages.
ReplyDeleteThis survey and the one before has reminded me that I wanted to create a secret language with my best friend. Once this language exists, I could use it similar to how Eliot/Verres use Uryuomocco, but more effectively since my friend and I will be the only ones speaking it.
ReplyDeleteThe question itself is loaded for your readership, however twitter doesn't really allow for much explanation either.
ReplyDelete"Something only you would know" works as long as there are no other external forces to remove trust.
eg, a close friend or family member, this may be all that is necessary, and even in fiction it's a widely used trope.
However if there is no implicit trust in that friendship, eg, a friend you haven't seen in 10 years, and last met under unfavorable circumstances (eg high school breakup) then there is unlikely any information they could provide that would allow me to believe them.
And to take the fictional sense further, as with Elliot and Ellen... how do I know you're not some "possibly evil clone" ? A clone may know everything (as in the context of the comic) and have no problem staying in character.
-- "I don't dispute the accuracy of your statement - it is correct in every detail. Trouble is, you see, there's nothing you can tell me which may not have been told you by the person you claim to be under sedation or hypnosis. We're all aware of truth drugs and other ingenious means of extracting information. It could all have been recorded and you could have learnt it parrot-fashion."
ReplyDelete-- "Ask me the minutest details of anything you know that we did together."
-- "The same problem applies."
-- "I could never convince you, then."
-- "Only sufficiently to intrigue me. To make sure that you are watched and followed every inch of wherever you go."