This sort of thing has been around since forever. It shows how, with italics, the stress you place on different words in a sentence can change the sentence’s meaning, usually by evoking a contrast.
I never said we should kill him. (Someone else said it!)
I never said we should kill him. (Absolutely not me ever!)
I never said we should kill him. (Maybe I wrote it somewhere. Or thought it.)
I never said we should kill him. (Let someone else do it!)
I never said we should kill him. (Maybe we shouldn’t kill him.)
I never said we should kill him. (How about torture instead?)
I never said we should kill him. (How about we kill someone else?)
But the real problem with the meme is in the scenario above the black field: It’s list items #1 through #7, which interpret the sentences inside the black field. But where did the damn periods go? And there are other errors. Let’s correct them all.
Not my fault. (add period)
I didn’t suggest this. (correct as is except for the period)
Stop putting words in my mouth! (exclamation point added)
I thought we were going to hire a hitman. (tense control + period)
“Just because we could” isn’t a good excuse. (period; quote = subject of the sentence)
I suggested we rough him up. (add period)
You killed the wrong person! (exclamation point added)
I admit I had to look up TIL. It means, “Today, I learned…”


