Hold My Glasses

Two people who are established enemies come into contact with each other, there is an intense verbal battle, and a fight is the next logical step. The preparation begins: Maybe they'll psych each other out a bit, circle each other and spout insults, perhaps. But before the brawl goes down, they must remove items of clothing that would impede them. In this aspect, the trope is closely related to The Coats Are Off. Usually earrings, glasses or other such items are removed.

This is where Hold My Glasses comes in. One or possibly both opponents will calmly remove the aforementioned articles (most likely, earrings will come off first), and they will hand those articles off to the nearest bystander. This is usually the evidence that supports the suspicions of an impending battle.

Note that this doesn't always have to happen after a verbal battle. It can happen as a reaction to a particularly offensive statement, or it can be used as a threat. This works for any accessory/prop, and it is also used for comedic effect. The opponents are also almost Always Female, as it is usually a part of a Cat Fight or Designated Girl Fight.

Contrast You Wouldn't Hit a Guy with Glasses

Comics

 * When Justice League: A New Beginning sees the neverending battle of wills between Guy Gardner and Batman finally come to blows, Guy takes off his power ring and hands it to the Blue Beetle. Beetle promptly tosses it over his shoulder, as he's routing for Batman (and gets his wish).

Film
"Ray: what, you wanna get butt naked and wrestle?! (turns to girlfriend) Here, Brenda, hold my earrings."
 * Played with in Paul Blart: Mall Cop. Blart comes into a women's clothing store to help with an altercation between two women. He makes some... unflattering remarks to one of the ladies, and she takes off her earrings, asks him to hold them... then beats him up.
 * Free Jimmy had Hudma Specs, an ill-tempered dude with a Scottish accent. His Catch Phrase? "Hud ma specs!", before beating someone up.
 * The character Mike in SLC Punk! does this before walking through a mosh pit to keep a friend of his from being beaten by two bouncers.
 * In Jackie Chan's Who Am I?, Jackie eventually gets into a fight with Those Two Bad Guys on a rooftop. As Jackie takes advantage of how one of them is wearing a jacket, tie, earrings, etc., the other guy immediately starts removing them.
 * Used in Scary Movie with the Ambiguously Gay character:

"Shorty: Hold my tooth!"
 * Also, from the sequel:

Literature

 * Don't Make a Black Woman Take Off Her Earrings: Madea's Uninhibited Commentaries on Love and Life

Live Action Television

 * In an episode of How I Met Your Mother, One of Marshall's female coworkers admits to Lily that she kissed Marshall. Lily seems to take it well as she has a calm, pleasant conversation with the woman. It isn't until she takes off her earrings that there is any warning of her knocking the woman out.
 * Also, When a bartender goads Ted and Barney into joining him in a back-alley rumble, Barney sheds his suit jacket and gives it to Robin to hold (he is trying to impress her with his willingness to fight). He asks her to find a wooden hanger for it.
 * Shows up in the Glee episode titled "Silly Love Songs", Lauren hands her glasses to Puck before beating up Santana.
 * A variation of this occurs in the Victorious episode "A film by Dave Squires". Andre's cousin removes her earrings and simply drops them on the floor before fighting with the eponymous Dave Squires.
 * Played for laughs in an episode of Six Feet Under, when Vanessa and her sister are spying on . Eventually Vanessa snaps and takes off her earrings (and puts Vaseline on her face like a catfight veteran) before going to pick a fight with her.

Western Animation

 * Owen on Gargoyles didn't have anyone to hand his glasses to, but when the gargoyles dared him to stop them from taking the Grimorum Arcanorum from Xanatos' possession he calmly took them off, put them in his breast pocket and tried to do just that. It didn't work, yet he still managed to firmly establish himself as a Badass Normal.