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The "And Then I Said" meme features an image macro of groups of people laughing. Each meme includes a caption starting with "And then I said" or "And then we said," followed by either an empty promise or an implausible proposition. These humorous contrasts highlight the disparity between what was said and the actual outcome. This meme template is visually and conceptually similar to the "X They Said" meme series, which also plays with the juxtaposition of promised versus actual results.
The "And Then I Said" meme was originated by a post on Reddit by Redditor raks1991 on July 25th, 2011. The post, under the title "We told them.." in the r/pics subreddit, featured a photograph of prominent politicians such as Ronald Reagan and George Bush Sr. laughing, accompanied by the caption "We told them wealth would 'trickle down'!" This photograph was captured by Time magazine photographer Diana Walker after an interview with President Ronald Reagan by Walter Cronkite in the Oval Office on March 3rd, 1981. Additionally, the phrase "And then I said" has been frequently employed in television as a way to frame stories or events being recounted by characters, often serving as punchlines. This usage is documented in detail on the TV Tropes page.
Origin: 2011
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“So we just rolled out 50-year mortgages and lowered the credit requirements to keep them in debt forever.”
7:33 PM · Nov 11, 2025
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You can browse our growing library of popular meme templates, quickly caption images, videos, or GIFs in Caption This, or design completely custom image memes from scratch in our free-form editor with extra AI tools like Magic Prompt, Magic Face Swap, Magic Erase, and Magic Face.
The platform includes three main tools:
Text is fully customizable with font selection, weight controls, colors, and styling like outlines and italics. Each text layer has its own opacity slider, and you can drag text around the canvas or drag layers in the sidebar to control which elements appear on top. Add as many text boxes as you need with the "Add Text" button.
Upload and layer additional images onto your meme with the "Upload Image" button. Each image can be repositioned, resized, and have its opacity adjusted. Paste images directly with CMD/CTRL + V for quick edits.
Enable custom headers above your media with adjustable colors and heights—perfect for adding context or reaction text. This works in both Caption This and when editing templates from the meme library.
Yes! Use Caption This to add text, headers, and captions to videos and animated GIFs. Simply upload your video or GIF file, add your customizations, and download the finished meme. The tool preserves the animation and exports your captioned video or animated GIF ready to share.
You can also upload your own videos and animated GIFs in Caption This to add captions and text overlays. The meme template library features hundreds of popular image templates that open in the same editor with all the same customization options.
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AI Memes supports PNG, JPG, and WEBP images, MP4 videos, and animated GIFs. Your download will match your upload format—bring us an image, get an image back; bring us a video, get a video back; bring us a GIF, get a GIF back.
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