Repeat to Confirm - TV Tropes

Joel: [as a naval officer] Move three quarters of an inch to the left, sailor.
Crow: [as a sailor] Moving three quarters of an inch to the left, sir. Sir, coming on three quarters of an inch to the left, sir.
Joel: [as a naval officer] Hold still at three quarters of an inch to the left.
Crow: [as a sailor] Aye, sir. Holding steady at three quarters of an inch to the left.
Joel: [as a naval officer] Very well.
Tom: Navy: It's not just a job; it's a Type-A personality development course.

• Ubiquitous due to Aizuchi, a form of interjection for the listener to confirm that they are paying attention, which can range from single words to repeating whole sentences.

• In Conquest (after a starship is partially infected with the Borg):

  "Eviscerator Three, this is Jaina. You are to open fire on our starboard side. Twenty four heavy turbolaser shots, on the following co-ordinates." She began punching in co-ordinates.
  A confused voice cracked through the communications system. "Please confirm, Lady Jaina. We are to fire upon your ship?"
  Yes, you are to fire on us. Now.

• In Peter Pan (1953), Smee repeats Captain Hook's orders as he calls out the coordinates for shooting down Peter and the Darlings. Smee begins to repeat Hook's command to fire, but stops himself and plugs his ears in anticipation of the cannon firing.

• Almost every movie set aboard a plane with two or more crew in the cockpit. For example, Howard Hawks' Air Force: "Flaps down." "Flaps coming down."
• Battle Beyond the Stars. After delivering his ultimatum to the peaceful world of Akir, Sador orders his crew to murder a few of them just to drive his message home.

  Sador: [to Yago] Snipers forward.
  Yago: [to assembled men] Snipers... FORWARD!
  Sador: Fire at will.

• Used for the Oh, Crap! moment in The Bedford Incident. A gung-ho destroyer commander harasses a Soviet sub with the intention of forcing it to the surface. Unfortunately he also rides his crew equally hard, so a tense officer launches an anti-sub missile when he hears the words "Fire One" twice in a row (the captain was actually saying "If he (the sub) fires one, then I'll fire one"). The by-now equally tense Soviet submariners respond with an atomic torpedo before they're destroyed.
• Commando Cody: Sky Marshal of the Universe (1953 Film Serial). Dick Preston, the copilot for Cody's rocketship, does this all the time, except at the end of one chapter where Cody asks him to repeat some Technobabble he's just spouted off, only for Dick to admit that he can't.
• Inverted(?) in Cool Hand Luke where men Working on the Chain Gang tell the "boss" (the screw in charge of the gang) what they're doing and he repeats it back to confirm that he understands, in order that the guards don't shoot the prisoners for some random sudden movement.

  Dragline: Taking it off here, Boss.
  Boss: Yah, Dragline, take it off there.

• Dr. Strangelove: The crew of the bomber regularly do this as they go through their checklists and procedures; watch an example here.
• In The Fifth Element, there is a bridge officer whose job is to relay orders from the captain to the helmsman, who is only a few feet away but behind an apparently pointless sheath of transparent material. The computer repeats the order too, so the exchange goes like this:

  Captain: Helm to 108.
  Computer: Helm to 108.
  Officer: [into sheath] HELM, 108!
  Helmsman: [turning wheel] Helm to 108.

• In Galaxy Quest, and the Show Within a Show at its core, Gwen's character's role was to liaise between the captain and the computer, even though the computer can hear anything said on the ship and vice versa. When on the ship in real life, she is frustrated at the pointlessness of the job but insists on doing it anyway, since it's the only one she has. (Although it turns out to be slightly less pointless than it was on the show; while everyone can still hear the computer just fine, the extremely Literal-Minded Thermians have rigged it so the computer only responds to verbal commands when given by Gwen. Because, they presumably figured, why else would she have to repeat everyone else's commands?)
• Common in American Civil War and Western films such as Gettysburg, as the standard manual of arms required, first, a "preparatory" command which was repeated by the privates, then a firm command of "execution." As in "Fix—" "Fix—" "BAYONETS!"
• The Last Jedi: Played for Laughs when General Hux repeats each command that Kylo Ren gives during the First Order's ground assault on the cornered rebels, even though the subordinate officers are right in front of them and clearly heard Ren the first time. The absurdity comes from the fact that Ren and Hux are rivals who used to compete for the favor of their boss, Supreme Leader Snoke, but since Ren has just killed Snoke and declared himself the new Supreme Leader he no longer needs the cooperation of Hux to make the troops obey him. After the third repeat Ren gives a You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me! side-glance at Hux's flimsy attempt to pretend that he’s still in charge. Eventually he loses patience when Hux openly questions his orders and Force-slams him aside. A soldier then complies with Ren's order without missing a beat.
• Mad Max: Fury Road: Ace does this while hooking up the War Rig, to rev up the War Boys escorting (what should be) a routine supply run.

  Ace: Today we're headin' to Gas Town!
  War Boys: Gas Town!
  Ace: Today we're haulin' Aqua Cola!
  War Boys: Aqua Cola!

• Parodied in Monty Python and the Holy Grail, where the King of Swamp Castle gives commands to a guard, and the guard repeats them back wrong. The two of them spend the next two minutes going back-and-forth with the king trying to get the guard to get the orders right.
• Pulp Fiction: Marsellus Wallace reminds Butch Coolidge that he has to throw his fifth boxing match. The mob boss makes him repeat the instruction to make sure it sticks, which it doesn't, unfortunately.
• Occurs several times in Santa Claus Conquers the Martians aboard the Martian spaceship. "Fire retrorockets five and six." "Retrorockets five and six: fire."
• Spaceballs:
  • Lone Starr and Barf do this several times. Spoofed when they infiltrate Spaceball One:

    Lone Starr: Dim the lights.
    Barf: Dimming the lights.
    Lone: Go to infrared.
    Barf: Going to infrared.
    Lone: Pray to God.
    Barf: Praying to God. [Lone Starr gives Barf a look. Barf grins.]

  • Shortly after...

    Lone Starr: Put her in hover, Barf.
    Barf: Putting her in hover.
    Lone Starr: I'm going down there.
    Barf: He's going down there. [Beat] I wouldn't.

• In S.W.A.T. (2003), after Hondo hears Street frantically yelling "Officer down!" into the radio:

  Hondo: Flip a bitch!
  Deeks: Flipping a bitch! [pulls a U-turn]

• In most naval films, including Tora! Tora! Tora!, Crimson Tide, U-571, and The Hunt for Red October, the captain will give an order, and the first officer or gunnery officer will repeat it. For example, almost every WWII submarine and PT boat movie features the lines, "Fire one!" "Fire one." "Fire two!" "Fire two..." In addition, Crimson Tide has the USS Alabama officers do this when they're conducting missile drills or authenticating nuclear launch orders. As should be obvious to anyone with a functioning brain, if you are potentially about to Nuke 'Em for real, there is no room whatsoever for ambiguity. In point of fact, when it comes to any order pertaining to Nuclear Weapons, the XO's repetition of the order is not only to avoid ambiguity - the XO's verbal assent must be given in order for the order to be valid.

  Ramsey: Set condition 1SQ for WSRT^*. This is the captain. This is an exercise.
  Hunter: Set condition 1SQ for WSRT. This is the XO. This is an exercise.

• WarGames: This happens repeatedly at the beginning of the movie when two SAC missile crewmen receive an order to launch their missiles. As with Crimson Tide, this is not only to avoid mistakes in communication; the two missile officers are also following the principle of two person control — both officers must agree in order to execute the launch. Watch it here.
• You Only Live Twice. Moneypenny uses this trope to (unsuccessfully) get Bond to say Those Three Words to her.

  M: [buzzing intercom] Miss Moneypenny, give 007 the password we've agreed with Japanese S.I.S.
  Moneypenny: Yes sir. [to Bond] We tried to think of something that you wouldn't forget.
  Bond: Yes?
  Moneypenny: "I, love, you." Repeat it please, to make sure you get it.
  Bond: [beat] Don't worry, I get it.

• A plot point in the novel of 2001: A Space Odyssey. Frank Poole is performing an EVA and instructs HAL to adjust the angle of a spotlight so he can better see what he's doing. Aboard the main ship, Dave Bowman notices something odd but it takes him a moment to realise what it is. "Hal had executed the order, but he had not acknowledged it, as he invariably did. When Poole had finished, they'd have to look into this." However he never gets the chance as that's the moment that HAL kills Poole and tries to kill Bowman, too.
• Occurs regularly in the Aubrey-Maturin novels, which largely take place aboard Royal Navy vessels during the Napoleonic Wars; it's second nature to the officers and sailors, but Dr. Maturin occasionally mentally remarks on "the enormous amount of repetition in the service."
• Spacehounds of I.P.C. by E. E. "Doc" Smith. Nadia is donning a spacesuit for the first time, and starts to repeat the safety check procedure (which Nadia has been Taught by Television), only to be told off for not actually doing each check before replying.

• In The Addams Family episode "Lurch's Little Helper", Gomez asks Uncle Fester for a couple of tools and a screwdriver (as in the drink). Fester hands them to him and repeats the words.
• The Teaser of the Intelligence (2014) episode "Athens" has a bit where a bureaucrat touring Cyber Command asks about security procedures, for instance what if somebody loses their ID or has it stolen. Their IDs are biometric scans of their hands, leading to the following exchange:

  Lillian: Agent Jameson. Let's do a hand count today. Make sure everyone has two.
  Jameson: Hand count. Two per. Yes, ma'am.

• The 1990's series Reasonable Doubts involves a cop assigned to work with a deaf female prosecutor. He knows sign language, but always repeats back what she's saying to confirm that he understood. This has the benefit of translating for the audience who don't know sign language.
• Star Trek:
  • Star Trek: The Original Series. In "The Deadly Years", Captain Kirk goes senile from Rapid Aging and keeps giving orders that he's already given before. At the end of the episode Sulu does a repeat to confirm, making him wonder if he's going senile again.

    Kirk: Take over, Mister Sulu. Steady as she goes.
    Sulu: Steady as she goes, Captain.
    Kirk: I thought I said that...?

  • Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
    • Justified in "For the Uniform". The Defiant's computer memory was wiped by a virus Michael Eddington planted, so a lot of systems aren't working right, including communications, which is a problem because due to the other malfunctions, the bridge will need to stay in contact with Engineering. O'Brien's solution is to put Nog on the bridge with a portable communicator and have him relay any necessary information to and from Engineering, which results in a number of instances of Nog audibly repeating Sisko's orders.
    • In "Valiant", the Red Squad cadets do this to excess, subtly highlighting their inexperience at running a ship.
• Happens frequently in UFO (1970) aboard the Skydiver submarine in situations such as altering the ship's course, preparing to launch the Skydiver jet and surfacing.
• November 22, 1963: NBC's Robert MacNeil reports to Frank McGee via phone that President Kennedy died at 1 PM CST after being shot in Dallas, Texas. In the NBC News studio, McGee relays it.

• While not required, the mobile app game Spaceteam tends to lead players to do this, as repeated confirmations not only acknowledge that your request has been actioned ("Newtonian Photomist to 3" "Photomist at 3."), but also signifies who has that control on their panel for future commands. Also, it makes you feel like you're in command of a real Spaceteam.

• Looney Tunes:
  • In the short Rookie Revue, this occurs between a general and his men aiming and firing a cannon. None of them noticed they were pointing it at headquarters.
  • This occurs between Hubie and Bertie in The Hypo-Chondri-Cat as they prepare to "operate" on Claude Cat.
• Occasionally parodied on My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic:

  [the CMC are attempting carpentry]
  Apple Bloom: Hammer.
  Scootaloo: Hammer. [passes Apple Bloom a hammer]
  Sweetie Belle: Hammer.
  Scootaloo: Hammer. [passes Sweetie Belle a hammer]
  Scootaloo: Hammer.
  (beat)
  Scootaloo: Hammer. [takes her own hammer]

• Work It Out Wombats!: In "Sparklepants," Zadie and JunJun do this with scissors and tape while assembling a disco ball at the Creation Station.

• Very common on public safety radio channels, and often referred to as "Echoing." It serves two purposes. It confirms that the original transmission was understood correctly, and it also gives other units a second chance to hear what is going on when they may be in a position to assist or get on scene faster. Radio dispatchers will often even echo themselves in order to draw attention to important information, such as holding a channel for priority traffic or informing a first responder of scene safety information.
• In a physiological variant, "killer" T lymphocytes of the human immune system require a two-step activation process: 1) another defense cell showing the lymphocyte a sample of the antigen which the killer T cell needs to attack, causing an internal "Target confirmed" signal that prepares it to divide; and 2) a "helper" T cell responding to the same antigen's presence, and issuing a chemical "Target confirmed" signal that stimulates the killer cell's mitosis.
• In aviation, radio messages between air traffic control and pilots use a formalized series of phrases to minimize the possibility of misunderstandings (with good reason). Every maneuver or change that ATC requests is phrased as an instruction, and the pilot has to repeat those instructions back. This means that a request from the pilot results in the same thing being said three times; the request from the pilot, ATC's instruction to do what the pilot just requested to do^note , and the pilot reading back the instruction.

  Flight 123: This is flight 123 requesting to descend to 5000.
  ATC: Flight 123, descend to 5000.
  Flight 123: Descend to 5000, flight 123.

  • This is also used when giving verbal orders in railroading, to make sure that absolutely everybody knows what is going on.

    Dispatcher: Frisco 1630 has authority for a 1:00 PM departure from station track 2, meeting Burlington 9911A at East Switch, CRT 1268 at Johnson Siding, to Kishwaukee Grove, return to Johnson and call.
    Frisco 1630 Conductor: Frisco 1630 has authority for a 1:00 PM departure to Kishwaukee Grove, meeting Burlington 9911A at East Switch and CRT 1268 at Johnson, then return to Johnson and call.
    Dispatcher: That is correct.
    Frisco 1630 Engineer: Head end copies: 1630 has authority for 1:00 departure to the Grove, meeting 9911A at East Switch, 1268 at Johnson, then return to Johnson and call.
    Frisco 1630 Conductor: That is correct.

• Within many theater groups, when a stage manager calls the time until the show starts or the length of a break, it is obligatory for all cast members to state "Thank you" and the time verbatim to ensure everyone has the correct number.

  "Places in five minutes."
  Thank you five.

• Some languages lack an equivalent of "yes" or "no", meaning that repeating part of a question or order is the only way to unambiguously answer it (e.g. The answer to the Latin question "troposne legis?" or the command "lege tropos!"^trans would be "tropos lego" or "tropos non lego"^trans). One of these languages is Irish, which has impacted Irish English; this is why, if (for instance), you ask an Irish person (for instance) "Have you read the paper this morning?" they will like as not reply "I have" or "I haven't" rather than "yes" or "no."
• In medicine, the doctor orders an injection. A nurse or orderly uses a syringe and a special pulling needle to draw the medicine from the bottle. The syringe and bottle are then, still connected, shown to a doctor or nurse, so they can confirm the medicine and the dosage. The syringe is then attached to a needle intended for injections, and the medicine is injected.
  • Commonly depicted during operations, as "Scalpel!" "Scalpel." "Sponge!" "Sponge."
• An essential part of Artillery. Artillery strikes are performed by a soldier on the field giving coordinates and payload orders to an artillery team miles away. Confirming coordinates and payload is the difference between leveling a city block of enemy troops and leveling a city block of innocent civilians (or quite possibly leveling a city block of your own troops).
• Many grade school teachers ask students answering questions (especially word problems in math) to restate the question.
• Also part of the standard spelling bee protocol: the judge gives a word, the speller repeats the word for confirmation, spells the word, and then repeats the word again to indicate completion of the response.
• Hearing-impaired people often pick up this practice because the tendency of information to get lost as it travels through damaged parts of the ear means they can't be one hundred percent sure of what they heard otherwise.