Bait-and-switch humor has been around forever: set up an expectation, then flip it on its head. It’s one of comedy's oldest tricks, and right now it’s reviving an old trend on X .
Users are cleverly playing with profile banners. The setup usually starts with a post about struggling to crop or format an image. But when you click into their profile to check, the banner reveals something completely different — often a joke that either undercuts the original image or turns it into a punchline.
This isn't a brand-new joke, either. According to Know Your Meme , it dates back to at least 2019, when it began with a woman posting side-by-side photos of herself and her boyfriend and asking how to fit both into her header. The gag fizzled for a while but resurfaced in 2023 when users began post