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Glite Dictionary
will the real ... please stand up

will the real ... please stand up

9.5
A question asking which person is the real one
  • idiom
  • Informal
translation icon : que se presente el verdadero ...
  • After three people claimed responsibility, he said, "Will the real culprit please stand up?"

Examples

  • She joked, "Will the real Sarah please stand up?" when her friends pretended to be her.

  • In the meeting, he asked, "Will the real leader please stand up?" to address the confusion.

  • During the debate, the moderator asked, "Will the real candidate please stand up?" to clarify who was actually running.

  • At the party, she playfully exclaimed, "Will the real Jessica please stand up?" as her friends mimicked her style.

  • In the talent show, the host called out, "Will the real performer please stand up?" to identify the actual artist among impersonators.

Antonyms

non-authentic
5.6

An object that is not real or original and is often a fake

Surface Forms

will the real ... please stand up main

Morphology

will + the + real + ... + please + stand + up

The phrase literally asks the genuine person to identify themselves by standing: 'real' = genuine and 'please stand up' = request to rise, so the overall request is directly compositional. Although formulaic, its meaning follows ordinary syntax and pragmatic logic and is cross-linguistically comparable, so a B1 learner who knows the constituents can infer the sense.

Etymology

Will the real ... please stand up comes from old TV game and panel shows where several people claimed to be the same person and the host asked the true person to stand up so the audience could see who was honest. That's why we now say Will the real ... please stand up to ask who is the 'real' person or thing.