will the real someone please stand up

English

Alternative forms

• would the real (someone/something) please stand up

Phrase

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

• “will the real (someone) please stand up” in TheFreeDictionary.com, Huntingdon Valley, Pa.: Farlex, Inc., 2003–2024.